Posted on July 13, 2015 by Al Bergstein
Chris Dunagan has an excellent new video by WDFW, and also points the reader to a series of other articles on bottom fish over the last few years. Good update, and worth viewing if you want to see how a scientific trawl is done. Great overview for that budding marine scientist in your family.
In a new video, Dayv Lowry of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife does a great job explaining how scientific trawling provides information about the kinds of creatures that hang out on the bottom of Puget Sound. The video shows a big net being brought to the surface filled with crabs and all sorts of strange creatures, which are then sorted and measured right on the deck of the Chasina. This research, which has been going on for years, provides information about how populations of marine species are changing over time. Chris Dunagan reports. (Watching Our Water Ways)
http://pugetsoundblogs.com/waterways/2015/07/10/studies-of-bottom-fish-help-fill-in-key-portions-of-puget-sound-food-web/
Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: bottom fish, Puget Sound, science, survey, trawling | Comments Off on Studies of bottom fish help fill in key portions of Puget Sound food web – Watching Our Waterways
Posted on July 8, 2015 by Al Bergstein
Great overview of the budget proposals and the actual numbers. This seems to be a bi-partisan effort. Glad that the Conservation Districts are getting a boost, which is something I’ve argued for over the last six months. The Puget Sound Partnership is loosing some of it’s funding, which is unfortunate.
Washington environmental agencies are set to receive at least a modest budget boost the next two years despite earlier concerns that court-mandated education spending would require cuts to environmental priorities. Among the major environmental agencies, only the Puget Sound Partnership is set to lose operational dollars, largely due to a federal funding reduction, while several agencies will see substantial increases in operational funding to make up for past years’ cutbacks.
Washington budget boosts funding for most environmental agencies
Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: budget, legislature, Puget Sound | 2 Comments »
Posted on July 8, 2015 by Al Bergstein
Beachwatchers photo
Glad to hear that the legislature was able to fund this much needed study.
The largest study of Puget Sound’s smallest fish received full funding in the new state budget….the study will take a close look at the sound’s populations of herring, smelt, sand lance and other forage fish that serve as prey for larger predators, including salmon, sea birds and marine mammals. The final budget put $1.9 million toward the study, allowing for both a nearshore survey of spawning grounds and a trawl survey in open water to gauge the survival rate of adult forage fish. Tristan Baurick reports. (Kitsap Sun) Subscription required to read this article. Support your local newspaper, subscribe to the Kitsap Sun.
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/local-news/forage-fish-study-gets-states-full-backing_28244964
Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: forage fish, legislature, Puget Sound | 1 Comment »
Posted on July 7, 2015 by Al Bergstein
Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: Puget Sound | Comments Off on Drought Forum July 14th 6PM – Chimacum High School
Posted on July 7, 2015 by Al Bergstein
This article swings around from India to Puget Sound, it’s a bit all over the map, literally. But take it as you read it. I think that the point is that continued algal blooms are increasing the incident of red tide, and that if this continues it may be harder and harder to grow shellfish for the size of the commercial markets.
New research suggests that climate change could cause massive poisonous algae blooms, depleting already limited shellfishing industries. Could the solution be something as simple as seagrass? Joseph Dussault reports. (Christian Science Monitor)
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2015/0706/How-algae-blooms-could-take-mussels-off-the-menu
Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: Puget Sound, Shellfish | Comments Off on How algae blooms could take mussels off the menu – Christian Science Monitor
Posted on July 6, 2015 by Al Bergstein
Lots of fish from tropical waters are being seen in the surveys reported by Chris. Check out this quick read.
It’s an interesting time for researchers to begin writing a blog about ocean conditions off Oregon and Washington, an area undergoing some fascinating changes in oceanography and sealife. Scientists from NOAA Fisheries and Oregon State University launched their new website, “Newporter Blog,” [http://www.nwfsc.noaa.gov/news/blogs/display_blogentry.cfm?blogid=1&#blogentry1] last week. It’s named after the Newport Line, an area of study off the Oregon Coast where researchers have monitored changes for the past 20 years. Chris Dunagan reports. (Watching Our Water Ways)
http://pugetsoundblogs.com/waterways/2015/07/02/coastal-researchers-launch-blog-to-share-findings-about-ocean/
Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: fishing, global warming, ocean, Puget Sound | Comments Off on Coastal researchers launch blog to share findings about ocean – Watching Our Waterways
Posted on July 6, 2015 by Al Bergstein
Our legislators have again short changed legally mandated environmental funding. This one is for a critical but largely unseen problem that affects salmon spawning habitat, culverts. We likely will be fixing this through the end of the century, if global warming hasn’t wiped them out of the range.
A federal judge has told the state that it must find a way to come up with $2.4 billion to repair culverts that are barriers to migrating salmon.
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/state-money-to-fix-salmon-blocking-culverts-falls-far-short/
Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: culverts, Puget Sound, Salmon | Comments Off on State money to fix salmon blocking culverts falls far short – Seattle Times
Posted on July 6, 2015 by Al Bergstein
The Queets rain forest area is also suffering from the climatic change that is warming the entire planet. Now a major forest fire has started in the Queets area. The temperature of the river is a significant threat to the salmon runs, as mentioned in the story below.
In this hot, dry summer, even the Queets rain forest in Olympic National Park is burning. It’s a rare spectacle, but one that could become more common with climate change.
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/burning-rain-forest-raises-concern-about-future/
Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: Hoh Rain Forest, Olympic Peninsula, Puget Sound, Queets | Comments Off on So Dry Even A Rain Forest Is Burning – Seattle Times
Posted on July 4, 2015 by Al Bergstein
We have posted here about the Fukushima radiation issues since the plant was destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami that followed it in 2011. While the contamination of the ocean is an outrage and the subsequent lack of concern by all the worlds leaders is even more so, (including President Obama), there has been ongoing citizen efforts, led by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, to monitor for radiation. Here is a great update, a call for funding for an even better way to monitor, and a good graphic to help people understand the scale of the problem, in relationship to other radiation exposure. Very good reading. Feel free to donate to their cause which is included in the document.
CLICK on the IMAGES to see full screen.
Woods Hole Fukushima Overview
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Posted on July 2, 2015 by Al Bergstein
Some good news it seems, though preliminary.
A census of the killer whales that frequent Puget Sound is due today, and it appears that the total population of the three Southern Resident pods is 82, up from 79 last year at this time. But that’s not the end of the story, because two small groups of orcas have not been seen recently — so a final count must wait, according to Ken Balcomb of the Center for Whale Research, which conducts the annual census. Chris Dunagan reports.
http://pugetsoundblogs.com/waterways/2015/07/01/orca-census-shows-increase-in-southern-resident-population/
Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: orcas, Puget Sound | Comments Off on Orca census shows increase in Southern Resident population -Watching Our Waterways
Posted on June 26, 2015 by Al Bergstein
Tune in. http://www.kptz.org or 91.9 for the local folks.
Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: Puget Sound | Comments Off on The Olympic Peninsula Environmental News on the radio (and streaming) Noon to 12:30 today
Posted on June 26, 2015 by Al Bergstein
While there is less timber industry, the reduction in jobs is likely from automation, not environmental protection. And many other factors. In short, it would have happened anyway. The Spotted Owl was and is a convenient target. I just returned from a road trip, and saw lumber mills of various types from Central Oregon, to Sacramento, and over to the North California Coast and back to Grays Harbor. Everywhere, at every single mill, are more log stockpiles than I’ve seen since the shipping of raw logs to Japan in the early 80s. In one morning, I counted 8 full logging trucks in less than 10 minutes heading into a mill near Astoria. It’s just not true to say that the Spotted Owl regulations is stopping logging. It apparently was 13% of the timber on the Olympic Peninsula, yet is blamed for an almost 70% drop in logging. Not possible. It was so many more things, though it contributed. Perhaps the local independent loggers would have been better served coming to a solution sooner, rather than blaming the environs. Good work by George Erg. More on this next week.
The heated debate over whether to curtail the logging of old-growth forests to protect the northern spotted owl was at full throttle when the federal government declared the bird a threatened species June 22, 1990. At the time, environmentalists worried that the federal plan would fall short of saving the spotted owl. Timber interests worried that a wave of environmental rules would gut the Olympic Peninsula’s wood-products industry and devastate communities. Twenty-five years later, the effects of the landmark decision can be seen in the reams of economic, industry and environmental data routinely gathered by state and federal governments. The outcomes are by turns expected, disheartening and surprising. George Erb reports. (Peninsula Daily News)
Some of the findings are worth noting. For example…
The Asian log-export market also tanked after 1990, with log exports to Japan plunging 70 percent from 1989 to 2000, according to a U.S. Forest Service study. Asian companies were big buyers of private logs exported through the Port of Port Angeles and elsewhere.
Read a good summary of the findings at
http://peninsuladailynews.com/article/20150622/news/306229986/25th-anniversary-of-spotted-owl-listing-fewer-owls-less-timber
Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: Puget Sound | 1 Comment »
Posted on June 26, 2015 by Al Bergstein
Congratulations to FofSJ , WEC and SA. This is the kind of thing we expect you to be doing. Take the offensive.
Three conservation groups on Wednesday petitioned the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to change how it regulates seawalls, bulkheads or other barriers to increase habitat protections along Puget Sound shorelines. Such concrete or rock structures prevent erosion and protect waterfront homes, but they also alter beaches and disrupt habitat for juvenile salmon, forage fish and other species. So Friends of San Juans, the Washington Environmental Council and Sound Action are asking the Corps’ Seattle District to use its authority to regulate so-called “shoreline armoring” projects in tidal areas. Phuong Le reports. (Associated Press)
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/conservation-groups-seek-increased-shoreline-protections-in-puget-sound/
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Posted on June 26, 2015 by Al Bergstein
This bloom, if it worsens, will affect tribal clamming, and crabbing, in addition to recreational users.
An algae strain capable of producing a potentially deadly biotoxin rarely found on the North Olympic Peninsula has been found in large quantities in both Sequim and Discovery bays. The marine algae has produced biotoxins in Sequim Bay, but not to the level that represents a public health risk, researchers said. Chris McDaniel reports. (Peninsula Daily News)
http://peninsuladailynews.com/article/20150626/NEWS/306269973/researchers-study-plumes-of-algae-in-sequim-discovery-bays
Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: Algae Blooms, Puget Sound | Comments Off on Researchers study plumes of algae in Sequim, Discovery bays; biotoxins stand below hazard levels – PDN
Posted on June 26, 2015 by Al Bergstein
Global warming continues to hit home. Crabbers being affected in our area.
The bloom that began earlier this year and shut down several shellfish fisheries along the West Coast has grown into the largest and most severe in at least a decade. UW research analyst Anthony Odell left June 15 from Newport, Oregon, aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s research vessel Bell M. Shimada. He is part of a NOAA-led team of harmful algae experts who are surveying the extent of the patch and searching for “hot spots” — swirling eddies where previous research from the UW and NOAA shows the algae can grow and become toxic to marine animals and humans. Hannah Kickey and Michelle Ma reports. (UW Today)
See also: Dungeness Crabbers Hit Hard By Algae Bloom On Washington Coast http://kuow.org/post/dungeness-crabbers-hit-hard-algae-bloom-washington-coast Ashley Ahearn reports. (KUOW)
http://www.washington.edu/news/2015/06/25/uw-researcher-helping-pinpoint-massive-harmful-algal-bloom/
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Posted on June 26, 2015 by Al Bergstein
Good for Siteline. If you haven’t checked them out, please do. I get their morning updates and have contributed to them. An excellent resource.
If the oil industry gets its way, the US will soon begin exporting tankers full of American crude to overseas markets. Although such shipments are for the most part illegal today, the Obama Administration is quietly changing the rules to favor oil exporters. To shed some light on the government’s behavior, the environmental law firm Earthjustice filed a formal Freedom of Information Act request in February on Sightline’s behalf, but it was greeted only by stony silence. So today, Sightline Institute, represented again by Earthjustice, is suing the federal government. We are asking the Courts to force the Obama Administration to do what it was legally required to by March 11: release information about its secretive deals with oil exporters to the public. Eric de Place writes. (Sightline)
http://daily.sightline.org/2015/06/25/sightline-sues-obama-administration-over-crude-oil-exports-and-illegal-secrecy/
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Posted on June 26, 2015 by Al Bergstein
The expansion of geoduck into our waters continues. Regardless of consequences. Follow the money.
The Washington State Department of Natural Resources this month has auctioned 14 quotas for geoduck farming, the Seattle Globalistreported [http://seattleglobalist.com/2015/06/16/washingtons-controversial-clam-geoduck/37785]. The deepwater plots are on privately owned areas around Central Puget Sound, the Hood Canal and Hood Head East, the news outlet reported. The industry has also been attempting to increase harvests on private tidelands, and this year is the first time that state-owned lands will be leased for aquaculture, the news outlet reported. (Undercurrent News)
Washington state auctions deepwater quotas amid wider geoduck farming push
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Posted on June 26, 2015 by Al Bergstein
Catching up on this since I’m back from vacation.
A couple of years ago, divers in Puget Sound began to notice something odd: Starfish were disappearing. The sea creatures would get sores and then melt into piles of mush. Sea star wasting syndrome is a gruesome disease and it spread to starfish all along the West Coast. Scientists still don’t know a lot about it. Katie Campbell, a reporter for EarthFix and KCTS9, says that although scientists have isolated the cause, the creatures continue to die. Katie Campbell and Isolde Raftery report. (EarthFix)
http://www.opb.org/news/article/starfish-are-still-disappearing-from-northwest-waters/
Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: Puget Sound, starfish | Comments Off on Starfish Are Still Disappearing From Northwest Waters – Earthfix
Posted on June 26, 2015 by Al Bergstein
Even the Pope is onboard. Time is running out. From 6/18.
Pope Francis called Thursday for a bold cultural revolution to correct what he calls the “structurally perverse” economic system of the rich exploiting the poor that is turning Earth into an “immense pile of filth.” In a sweeping manifesto aimed at spurring action in U.N. climate negotiations, domestic politics and everyday life, Francis explains the science of global warming, which he blames on an unfair, fossil fuel-based industrial model that he says harms the poor most. Citing Scripture and past popes’ and bishops’ appeals, he urges people of all faiths and no faith to undergo an awakening to save God’s creation for future generations. It’s an indictment of big business and climate doubters alike. Nicole Winfield, Rachel Zoll and Seth Borenstein report. (Associated Press)
http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/pope-urges-revolution-to-save-earth-fix-perverse-economy/
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Posted on June 26, 2015 by Al Bergstein
Eye on the Environment blogger Laurie McBride discusses changes she’s seeing in her local hummingbird populations. You too?
http://eyeonenvironment.com/2015/06/17/time-for-buzzing-off/
It seems quieter around our house than usual, and I think I know the reason: in the last day or two, Buzzy (shown above – click on photo to enlarge) and the other adult male Rufous hummingbirds appear to have taken off on their southern journey. They’ll be heading over to the Rockies, where they’ll tank up on wildflower nectar, then on to Mexico – completing a 4000+ mile-long, clockwise circuit of the continent.
That trip began earlier this year, when Buzzy and his buddies travelled up the Pacific coast from their winter home. They arrived here in early March to stake out their breeding territories, and immediately started making their presence known with steep dives, loud chirps and a rattling buzz aimed to intimidate any creature, large or small (including resident humans).
Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: hummingbirds, Puget Sound | Comments Off on Time for Buzzing Off – Eye On the Environment
