Salish Sea News Week in Review December 2 2022

Aloha Mutt Friday!
National Mutt Day celebrates mixed breed dogs, and the goal of the day is to embrace, save, and celebrate mixed breed dogs by creating awareness about the great numbers of them in animal shelters that are in need of a home. The hoped for result of the day is that people visit animal shelters and adopt a mixed breed dog, or possibly donate their time and money to shelters.

Big picture view of the Salish Sea emerges in richly detailed map
Jeff Clark thought the existing maps of the Salish Sea didn’t have enough detail. So he set out to make a much more detailed map, “to increase the geographic literacy of the area.” The result is The Essential Geography of The Salish Sea, a wall-sized map that gives viewers a “big picture view” of the Salish Sea bioregion.

Here’s why the West Coast Dungeness crab season has been delayed
Oregon’s most valuable commercial fishery, Dungeness crab, will have its season delayed from its traditional Dec. 1 start date because of low meat yields.

Chinook threshold decreased for endangered orcas
The Pacific Fishery Management Council has decreased the number of chinook salmon it allocates each year to feed Southern Resident orca whales. The number is important because added conservation measures to ensure adequate food for the Southern Residents can only be put in place if that number is not reached.

Invasive crab population keeps booming in Washington
Trappers have caught nearly a quarter million European green crabs in Washington waters so far in 2022. This year’s record-smashing tally of the invasive species—248,000 caught as of Oct. 31—is more than twice the total caught last year along Washington shorelines.

What drives Puget Sound's 'underwater Amazon'?
What drives Puget Sound's 'underwater Amazon'? The interaction between fresh and salt water stokes an engine that drives water circulation throughout the entire basin, something intensely important to the understanding and management of Puget Sound.

Is B.C.’s $6 billion commitment to Coastal GasLink and LNG Canada still economically viable?
B.C. estimates it will earn $23 billion over 40 years once LNG Canada gets going, but net-zero pledges raise questions about whether global demand for gas will hold up over the project’s lifespan.

Port of Vancouver's 'ambitious' zero-emissions plan praised, but critics say LNG stands in the way
Canada's largest port has committed to becoming a zero-carbon port by 2050, a transition still in its infancy but has been dubbed ambitious by clean shipping advocates, as calls to dramatically reduce the industry's carbon footprint by that time grow louder and more urgent.

Vanishing lichens a sign rare B.C. rainforest is approaching ecological collapse
Lichens are a canary in the coal mine for the inland temperate rainforest and their demise is sounding the alarm about widespread biodiversity loss.

Washington tribe tests its rights to commercial net pen fish farming
An executive order from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources earlier this month aims to end commercial net pen fish farming in Washington’s public waters. Cooke Aquaculture is in a joint venture with the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe to farm two species of native fish in net pens in Port Angeles Harbor and the tribe wants to proceed with its fish farming.

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 at no cost to the weekday news clips, send your name and email to mikesato772 at gmail.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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