Bite-Sized Bits of News From Around Puget Sound

The complex, ever-moving seafloor off the Northwest coast could become one of the most studied expanses of underwater terrain under a bold plan to build permanent seafloor observatories. The National Science Foundation plans to launch a five-year, $208 million observatory program that would let scientists continuously monitor the planet’s oceans. Observatories would include small coastal sensor networks, regionwide systems and instrument-toting buoys that would cover remote areas and yield continuous data by satellites. Having a full-time presence on the seafloor with high-tech tools would mean a dramatic shift in the way scientists study oceans, resulting in more immediate data from a variety of environments. (02/11/04), Oregonian. From Tidepool.org.

Results of an ongoing Oregon State University study suggest West Coast tuna has much less mercury in it than the run-of-the-mill solid-white canned product on most supermarket shelves. Researchers from the university’s seafood laboratory last year took samples from 91 albacore tuna caught off the West Coast of the United States and Canada. They found that on average, the locally caught fish contained about a third of the mercury in solid white tuna sold in cans. That could be good news for the West Coast fishery, a group of small- to medium-sized businesses that ply the waters about 20 to 100 miles offshore. (02/08/04), Eureka Times Standard. From Tidepool.org.

Nine out of 10 Northwest orchard workers—and nearly as many of their children—carry measurable levels of pesticides in their bodies, new research shows. The study of 211 Yakima Valley farm worker families was published in the February issue of Environmental Health Perspectives magazine and made public recently. Researchers with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and the University of Washington conducted the study. (02/09/04), Oregonian. From Tidepool.org.

Killer whales are entitled to the protection of the courts, a Canadian judge said recently as he fined an American whale-watching guide $6,500 for disturbing the endangered mammals. It’s believed to be the largest fine given in B.C. for such a charge. Provincial court Judge Wayne Smith said a clear message must be sent to the growing whale-watching community that behavior endangering whales will not be tolerated. (02/10/04), Victoria Times Colonist. From Tidepool.org.

If the landmark court ruling known as the Boldt decision has an epicenter, it very well could be the lower Nisqually River watershed on the Thurston County border. It’s also the home of Frank’s Landing, a six-acre riverfront parcel where Indian activists, borrowing a page from the civil rights movement, staged fish-ins in the early 1960s to draw attention to their yet-to-be-accepted treaty right to fish. For Western Washington treaty tribes and nontribal fishers alike, the ruling hit home in much the same way the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brown vs. Board of Education did 50 years ago in the Deep South, said former state Department of Fisheries director Bill Wilkerson. But in many respects the promise of the Boldt decision is unfulfilled. Salmon are in decline. Prices for fresh-caught fish are rock bottom. And many tribal members remain shackled in poverty. “We’re getting further away from salmon recovery. Natural resources are so low on the totem pole, nobody cares,” said Billy Frank Jr., the charismatic, leather-faced Nisqually Indian who has devoted his life to keeping his tribe and others connected to the salmon and their rivers. (02/09/04), Olympian. From Tidepool.org.

Immature bald eagles could legally be taken from the wild, tamed and used for sport hunting or to harass problem wildlife if the B.C. government accepts the recommendations of a consultant’s review aimed at deregulating the ancient sport of falconry. The capture of both wild bald eagles—considered a first for North America—and great horned owls represent just two proposed changes in a government-commissioned review by Bill Munro, the province’s deputy director of wildlife until his retirement in 1997. In total, the changes would make falconry in B.C. the least restrictive of any Canadian jurisdiction, according to a copy of Munro’s review. (02/04/04), Vancouver Sun. From Tidepool.org.

Despite opposition from Washington state and environmentalists, the U.S. government still hopes to ship tons of low-level radioactive waste from other states to Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Southeast Washington. In a final environmental impact statement on handling solid waste at Hanford, the government says it prefers to ship as many as 12.8 million square feet of radioactive waste to Hanford, where it can be treated for permanent storage. That waste would then be processed with waste from Hanford. Waste that contains certain heavy radioactive elements would then be shipped to New Mexico for final storage. (02/04/04), Oregonian. From Tidepool.org.

Anti-immigration activists, some with loose connections to alleged white-supremacist groups, have launched an aggressive bid to take over the Sierra Club, one of the most respected environmental groups in North America. As directors of the Sierra Club’s Canadian affiliate watch with growing alarm, a group of 13 former presidents of the U.S. club has called on its board to take action to thwart the takeover drive of the organization and its $95-million-a-year (U.S.) budget. In an interview, former Sierra Club president Robbie Cox said the 750,000-member organization will be destroyed if “outside forces” succeed in gaining control of the board of directors in April’s elections. (01/26/04), Toronto Globe and Mail. From Tidepool.org.

Scientists have identified a genetic trait in elk that resists chronic wasting disease and want to breed a herd that has a natural defense against the fatal brain malady. “Animals that are resistant to the disease could be the answer,” said Barry Dyar, a research coordinator for the Cervid Research and Recovery Institute near Durango, Colorado. The institute has been studying elk genetics. “We hope that the knowledge we learn in this study will help us find similar solutions in other species,” he said. The trait could be useful for elk bred on ranches, said Terry Spraker, an associate professor of pathology at Colorado State University. (01/30/04), Seattle P-I. From Tidepool.org. §