Salish Sea News Week in Review December 16 2022

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Margaret Mean in Samoa [WikiCommons]

Aloha Margaret Mead Friday
Margaret Mead, born in 1901, was an American cultural anthropologist who featured frequently as an author and speaker in the mass media during the 1960s and the 1970s. Her theory of imprinting found that children learn by watching adult behavior. A decade later, Mead qualified her nature vs. nurture stance when she analyzed the ways in which motherhood serves to reinforce male and female roles in all societies. She is oft quoted as saying: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." 

More ‘forever chemicals’ found in WA drinking water as cleanup costs mount
..."Forever chemicals" or PFAS can increase health risks for certain cancers and other diseases when present in drinking water in minuscule concentrations measured in parts per trillion. Lakewood [WA] is one of more than a dozen Washington public water systems with detections above levels defined by the state to be suitable for long-term consumption — and widespread testing is just ramping up.  

Captains of big ships eased up on the throttle during trial slowdown to help endangered orcas
The majority of captains of big commercial ships entering and leaving Puget Sound are cooperating with a request to slow down temporarily to reduce underwater noise impacts to the Pacific Northwest's critically endangered killer whales.

Campaign to expand Olympic wilderness nears finish line after 15 years
...Buffeted by political headwinds facing wilderness expansion and undeterred by false starts over the years, campaigners believe the finish line for the conservation proposal known as Wild Olympics has never been closer. A lame duck Senate may establish several new, federally protected public lands, and Washington state conservation advocates have converged on Capitol Hill in D.C. for a final push.

Documents raise concerns feds backing off commitment to phase out fish farms in B.C. by 2025
Critics say they fear an ongoing public consultation about open-net pen fish farms has a ‘foregone conclusion’ to leave fish farms in the water, to the detriment of wild salmon.  Also see: Tacoutche Tesse, the Northwest’s great ghost river — Part 3: Saving wild salmon versus the net pen industry

Seattle woman donates island near Gabriola as nature reserve
Family of the late Betty Swift hopes Link Island becomes a location for climate-change research.

A network of computer models is predicting the future of Puget Sound
The Puget Sound Institute on Wednesday announced a three-year, $4.8 million dollar project to study the dynamics of Puget Sound’s changing ecosystem. The Puget Sound Integrated Modeling Framework combines a network of computer models to look at how different factors like urban growth and climate change will influence the health of Puget Sound.

Cooke Aquaculture files suit over terminated net pen leases in WA
Cooke Aquaculture has filed an appeal in Thurston County Superior Court against Washington’s decision to terminate its leases for fin fish net pens in state waters.

Highest number of humpback whales recorded in Salish Sea
There have been 396 individual humpback whales documented in the Salish Sea, including 34 mothers with their first-year calves, compared to 2017 when 293 whales were documented.

Pioneering whale researcher and advocate Ken Balcomb has died
Ken Balcomb, founder of the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor, was 82. Balcomb kept track of the population of southern resident orcas starting in 1976. His pioneering photo-identification work provided individual profiles of all the whales in the three endangered pods – J, K and L.

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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