Marine Waters

Despite low chinook run, co-managers boost escapement

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NISQUALLY – Good harvest management by tribal and state salmon co-managers has led to more chinook reaching the spawning grounds on the Nisqually River this year despite fewer returning chinook.

“Overall fewer chinook returned Puget Sound-wide, but because we managed our fisheries the right way, we were able to reach our escapement goal,” said David Troutt, natural resources director for the Nisqually Tribe. Escapement is the number of salmon that are allowed to reach the spawning grounds.

Nisqually River chinook are part of a larger Puget Sound population of chinook that are listed as “threatened” under the federal Endangered Species Act. (more…)

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Being Frank: We Are All Connected

For those of you who still don't think Puget Sound and the ocean environments are in trouble, here's some food for thought: If a dead orca were to wash up on your local beach, technically, it would have to be handled as toxic waste. Concentrations of poisons are so high in local orcas that the whale might have to be disposed of in a special incinerator used to clean up material from highly polluted Super-Fund sites. How could it ever come to this? How could the mighty killer whale ever decline so far as to be listed as an endangered species? How could these magnificent animals, that thrill and amaze us all every time we see pods of them slash through the translucent Northwest waters, ever get so polluted?

Continue ReadingBeing Frank: We Are All Connected