Salish Sea Communications: October 2025

Friday, October 17, 2025

Salish Sea News Week in Review October 17 2025

Aloha Mulligan Friday.
Mulligan is a term used in golf when someone who shoots a bad shot is given a do-over. Mulligan Day is a day when people redo something that didn't turn out the first time. It's a day when people give themselves or others a second chance. The word likely came from David Mulligan, a Canadian golfer prominent in the 1920s, who either hit a poor tee shot, was jumpy and shaky after a shot, or overslept and was late for a shot.

Republicans try to weaken 50-year-old law protecting whales, seals and polar bears
Conservative leaders feel they now have the political will to remove key pieces of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, enacted in 1972 to protect whales, seals, polar bears and other sea animals. The law also places restrictions on commercial fishermen, shippers and other marine industries.

A push for ‘global energy dominance’ puts Alaskan wildlands at risk
The National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), at 23 million acres, is the largest sweep of public land in the country, and it has remained largely undeveloped. Now President Donald Trump in his second term, just as in his first, is calling for full-on extraction of oil and gas here.

Southern resident killer whales show signs of slow decline toward disappearance
There's 'a fairly good chance' at least one of the three orca pods being gone within the next 50 years, says a director with the Center for Whale Research.

University of B.C. launches mushroom-powered toilet, turning waste into fertilizer
The toilet turns human waste into compost using mycelia, the root network of mushrooms. The MycoToilet separates liquids from solids, with the solid waste going into a mycelium-lined compartment, where lab tests have shown 90 per cent of the odour-causing compounds are absorbed.

With one mystery solved, researchers examine new strategies for sea star recovery
Knowing the cause of sea star wasting disease allows scientists to look for ways to increase resilience among the ravaged sea star population.

Oregon, environmental groups ask courts to help Columbia Basin fish
Environmental groups and the state of Oregon asked a judge Tuesday to OK a suite of changes to dam operations in the Columbia Basin to reduce harm to endangered salmon and steelhead. The requests are the first major development in a decadeslong legal battle in the basin since the Trump administration blew up a 2023 agreement that had provided a path to dam removal on the lower Snake River.

New research links wildfire smoke to lower sperm counts
A study comparing the sperm samples of 84 men who donated during potentially high exposure to smoke showed lower counts, as well as more inactive sperm, compared to samples taken when the air was cleaner.

Scientists Hope Underwater Fiber-Optic Cables Can Help Save Endangered Orcas
Scientists from the University of Washington recently deployed a little over 1 mile of fiber-optic cable in the Salish Sea to test whether internet cables can monitor endangered orcas like a continuous underwater microphone to capture the clicks, calls and whistles of passing whales — information that could reveal how they respond to ship traffic, food scarcity and climate change.

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 msato(at)salishseacom.com .Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told

Friday, October 10, 2025

Salish Sea News Week in Review October 10 2025

Aloha Squid Friday!
There are over 300 species of squid, which are in the Teuthida order. They live in every ocean, alone or in schools. They range in size: The giant squid may grow as long as 59 feet, while the pygmy squid is about the size of a pinky fingernail. They have a sleek, torpedo-like body, and are much quicker than cuttlefish. They use jet propulsion to move: They fill their mantle with water from small openings in their head, then shoot it out a funnel called a siphon, which they can move to change the direction they want to go. Squids have a pen, a flexible, feather-like structure, and a type of internal shell that supports the mantle and allows it to keep its shape.

Why too many pink salmon in Snohomish County may not be a good thing
New study shows booming pink salmon populations affect threatened Chinook salmon and Southern Resident orcas.

Marine carbon removal system launches after testing phase
The energy company Ebb Carbon’s Project Macoma marine carbon removal system officially launched Thursday following a testing phase this summer on the Port Angeles waterfront. The project is designed to enhance the ocean’s ability to absorb and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and in the process help make seawater less acidic and thus able to capture more CO2 than untreated seawater.

Supreme Court shoots down challenge to WA carbon market
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a high-profile challenge to Washington’s Climate Commitment Act, marking yet another victory for the state’s keystone climate policy.

Metro Vancouver votes to scale down sewage treatment project from $10B to $6B
The new $6-billion plan is to upgrade the existing facility in phases to comply with provincial and federal regulations for "secondary-level" treatment, which removes up to 90 per cent or more of pollutants typically found in wastewater, such as small suspended solids.

Trump Signs Order to Approve Ambler Access Road for Mining in Alaska
President Trump signed an executive order on Monday directing the government to approve a 211-mile industrial road that would cut through pristine Alaskan wilderness to reach a proposed copper and zinc mine.

Beavers disappeared from syilx territories. Could imitating their habitats bring them back — and restore their wetlands?
Historically seen as a ‘nuisance’ species to be trapped and removed, beavers may be key to restoring ecosystems amid deforestation and climate change.

Record number of sockeye salmon return to Skagit River system
About 92,000 adult sockeye made the annual migration to the Baker River and eventually to Baker Lake from June through October. Also worth noting, a record number of juvenile sockeye — about 1.5 million — headed down the Skagit River and out to sea.

Major solar farm in eastern Washington on cusp of approval
A large solar farm proposed in eastern Washington appears on course to clear a critical regulatory hurdle this month, despite opposition from the Yakama Nation.

Return of The Blob: Heat wave spans Pacific Ocean
Water temperatures several degrees above normal span thousands of miles, though they have mostly stopped short of the Pacific Northwest coast. Cool water welling up from the depths is thought to be keeping surface temperatures near the Oregon and Washington coasts closer to normal.

Friday, October 3, 2025

Salish Sea News Week in Review October 3 2025

Aloha Butterfly and Hummingbird Friday.

There are about 20,000 species of butterflies—some sources say there are 17,500, while some say there are as many 24,000. There are about 750 species found in the United States. Butterflies generally have short lives, with most only living for two to four weeks, during which they mainly eat and mate. There are about 325 species of hummingbirds, but only eight of them regularly breed in the United States. Although, up to two dozen species can be found there at various times. Most species of hummingbirds can be found in South America, Central America, and the Caribbean, and there are no hummingbirds outside of the Western Hemisphere.

Study finds Skagit River delta restoration projects positively impacted salmon
Many restoration projects both large and small have been undertaken throughout the delta in the past few decades, totaling an area of about 630 acres. According to a study published in Frontiers in Marine Science, the restoration efforts show a cumulative population response.

Alaska’s Bristol Bay sockeye run and harvest increased this year, with fish sizes a bit bigger
The run of sockeye salmon, also known as red salmon, exceeded preseason expectations and totaled 56.7 million fish, the seventh highest since 2005. However, Bristol Bay’s harvest of Chinook, also known as king salmon, hit a 20-year low this year, totaling only 6,148 fish, compared to the most recent 20-year average of 33,469 Chinook.

B.C. First Nations want meeting with Carney about salmon, need for open-net farm ban
The First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance says the federal government should create a First Nation-led plan to protect the wild fish, similar to one created for the Great Bear Rainforest.

Saving Puget Sound's puffins: Bringing these ocean ambassadors back from the brink
In 1954, a Walla Walla College biology professor named Ernest Booth recorded tufted puffins on Williamson Rocks. Seventy years later, you’re more likely to encounter peanut butter Puffins in the cereal aisle of a Friday Harbor supermarket than an actual tufted puffin anywhere in the San Juan Islands.

Scientists Release Breathtaking Close-Up Drone Footage of Endangered Orca Pod
Footage taken by scientists with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance shows the Southern Resident killer whale pod swimming together in the Salish Sea.

Environmentalists, politicians, celebrities recall life and influence of primatologist Jane Goodall
Tributes are pouring in from around the world honoring the life and influence of famed primatologist Jane Goodall.

As Smith Pushes New Pipeline Plan, Eby Says No Way
British Columbia Premier David Eby said Wednesday that if he has failed to clearly condemn Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s push for a new bitumen pipeline to B.C.’s north coast, it’s only because he was being polite.

WA’s active wildfires offer warning, state lands chief says
Two wildfires burning east of the Cascade crest are now the state’s largest, and serve as a reminder that, despite rainy, fall weather in Western Washington, fire season rages on.