Salish Sea News Week in Review October 25 2019

1st Place (Teresa Zgoda & Teresa Kugle)

Aloha Small World Friday!
The winners of the 45th Annual Nikon Small World photography competition combine art and science to show a beautiful, miniature world. (Washington Post)

Swarm of sea urchins wreaks destruction on US West Coast
Tens of millions of voracious purple sea urchins that have already chomped their way through towering underwater kelp forests in California are spreading north to Oregon, sending the delicate marine ecosystem off the shore into such disarray that other critical species are starving to death.

Export markets cool for Washington's giant clam, the geoduck, as tariffs mount and Chinese consumers get picky 
 ...[T]his year, the Asian market has cooled, and U.S. producers are finding it’s more difficult to wrest big profits from the Chinese geoduck market. That also means a sharp cut in revenue for the state of Washington, which has earned millions of dollars annually by auctioning off geoduck harvest rights.

Oyster growers agree to abandon quest to use controversial insecticide in Southwest Washington tidelands
A Southwest Washington oyster growers association has abandoned a quest to use a controversial insecticide that combats burrowing shrimp, a creature that can make tidelands unfit for shellfish farming. In a settlement reached last week, the Willapa Grays Harbor Growers Association agreed to accept a 2018 state Ecology Department denial of the proposed use of imidacloprid and drop an appeal to the state Pollution Control Hearings Board.


B.C. tables historic Indigenous rights bill in move to implement UN declaration
B.C.'s promised bill on Indigenous rights has been tabled in the legislature, and if passed, the province will be the first in Canada to legally implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

Canada election: Trudeau's Liberals win but lose majority
Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party has retained power in a narrow Canadian election win but he will now be prime minister of a minority government.


Trudeau extends olive branch to Western Canada, vows to build Trans Mountain despite opposition
Two days after much of Western Canada rejected the Liberals on election day, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today vowed to be more sensitive to the needs of Alberta and Saskatchewan and to build the Trans Mountain expansion pipeline in the face of entrenched opposition from environmentalists.


Feds ask public to weigh in on whale-watching regulations near endangered orcas 
The federal government is asking the public to weigh in on current and potentially new regulations for whale watching near endangered southern resident orcas.



These news clips are a selection of weekday clips collected in Salish Sea News and Weather which is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato (@) salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow @savepugetsound

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told