Puget Sound Partnership TV Ads

The Puget Sound Partnership will be airing a number of TV ads with the theme: "Puget Sound Starts Here." You can view the ads on UTube - here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqP9mFoqygM

Shann wishes they had chosen to use The Salish Sea instead of Puget Sound, but the message is good.

Upcoming SEA DOC Lectures

The SeaDoc Society has announced it's 2009-2010 Lecture Series. Dates and topics are listed below. All lectures are at 7 pm at Camp Orkila. Call 376-3910 for further information.

Oct 13: The Western Grebe: a vanishing icon, by Joe Gaydos, SeaDoc Society

Nov 10: Whales, echolocation and noise, by Jason Wood, The Whale Museum

Dec 8: Sharks of the San Juan Islands, by Gene Helfman, U of Georgia
Family night: free dinner at 5 pm, program starts at 7 pm

Jan 12: There is no such thing as a sea gull, by Thor Hanson, Author and biologist

Feb 9: Tracker dogs: saving killer whales, by Katherine Ayers, U of Washington

Mar 9: Super Suckers: Giant Pacific Octopus & other cephalopods, by Tim Carpenter,Seattle Aquarium

Orcasphere.org - Scott Veirs

As a result of publicity about John Ford's report on the salmon population and the Northern and Southern Residents, Scott has written a comment on his blog - Orcasphere http://www.orcasphere.org/ His link will be added to our site as well.

Resident Orcas & Salmon Study by John Ford

On the Discovery News website is an article with the results of the most recent study by John Ford, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and others on how the decline or increase in the salmon populations affect both Northern and Southern Residents. In particular, El Nino years have had the most dramatic effect on the residents.
The article can be viewed at http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/09/16/killer-whale-salmon.html

John Ford, with Kenneth Balcomb from the Center for Whale Research and two other colleagues, reported the findings this month in the online edition of the journal Biology Letters .

GREAT NEWS FOR MARINE INVASIVE SPECIES MONITORING

MISM has been funded for another two years (through June 2011) and Nahkeeta NW will continue as the program coordinator working under contract with WDFW.
San Juan County has 14 beach watcher volunteers who participate in this program. Hopefully everyone has been successful in monitoring the beaches they have chosen and entered the information on the Nahkeeta website for Ann Eissinger. There were some computer glitches at the beginning of the summer that she believes have been taken care of.
Ann is asking for comments and suggestion from the volunteers that will help to improve the MISM program, make it a rewarding experience for everyone and provide useful information.
You may either use this forum for your comments, or send them directly to me at zencamp@comcast.net.
Personally, I have enjoyed this monitoring very much. Not only have I learned about the invasive species that we are looking for, but I have also learned a lot about the native species that live on the beaches in our islands. I have seen many interesting animals that I have never come across before, and probably wouldn't have come across unless monitoring. I have several questions and comments for Ann, and I hope that if you do, you will post them or send me an email.
Ann is working with Padilla Bay National Estuarine Reserve to develop specialized workshops that focus on Species ID of certain taxa such as tunicates, whelks/drills and crabs. She will send out an announcement once the programs are set up.
Nancy Alboucq
SJBW-MISM coordinator

Puget Sounds Starts Here--New Website

A new website http://www.pugetsoundstartshere.org will be a "clearing house" for volunteer opportunities to educate and engage in the recovery of Puget Sound. The website was organized by ECO Net, part of the Puget Sound Partnership http://www.psp.wa.gov/econet.php

Please check it out frequently as organizations will be posting events and volunteer opportunities at any time.

Travel with WSU Extension Beach Watchers to Africa

Beach Watchers will join Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) next year for their "Safari Serengeti: Tanzania Lodge & Tented Safari" tour! This 12-day trip will depart September 12, 2010. If we fill our group, non-profit Beach Watchers will receive a cash donation from OAT. Travel with local friends and benefit Beach Watchers too. Here is a link to this incredible tour:http://www.oattravel.com/gcc/general/default.aspx?oid=262689

For more information about how to sign up, or to ask questions, please call: Sandy Dubpernell at 360-678-3765 or Linda Ridder at 360-579-2521.

Naming of Salish Sea

Interesting article from The Bellingham Herald. http://bellinghamherald.com/102/story/1072836

If you care to write regarding the adoption of the name, here is the info. It is not too late as the meeting will be on October 30.

Caleb A. Maki
WA State Dept. of Natural Resources
Engineering Division - Resource Mapping Section
WA State Board on Geographic Names

Phone: 360-902-1280
Fax: 360-902-1778
Email: caleb.maki@dnr.wa.gov

Summary of August 25 CAO Workshop

For those of you who were unable to attend the recent County Council Workshop on the Critical Areas Ordinance Update, here's a link to an article that gives a good summary of the meeting. It's from

http://orcasissues.com/our-shorelines-and-critical-areas-complex-differences-in-environmental-protection-aired-at-county-meeting

SJC Beach Watchers Cruise on Research Vessel

Cheryl Kummer, James Lobdell, Cynthia Hubbard, Geneva Mottet and Susan Muckle had a great day last Saturday aboard the M/V Indigo cruising the waters of Guemes Channel and Rosario Strait. Along with Beach Watchers and marine volunteers from Whatcom, Skagit and Island counties, as well as oceanographers from the U. of Washington in Seattle, we spent the day analyzing the density, nutrient values, plankton, and other components of the water at various locations off Fidalgo Island. The trip was part of the "Ocean Inquiry Project" (OIP) and was co-sponsored by COSEE-OLC. (Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence, and Ocean Learning Communities.) To make some sense from this alphabet soup, Here are links to these organizations, and a short paragraph explaining what they do:

"COSEE-Ocean Learning Communities is a partnership funded by the National Science Foundation between the University of Washington College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences and College of Education and the Seattle Aquarium. In 2008, the Ocean Inquiry Project, joined the Center after recieving a partnership grant from NSF. COSEE-OLC is a thematic center with the long-term goal of developing models of Ocean Learning Communities in the Northwest region and sharing these models with the COSEE Network.

"At COSEE-OLC we are actively building a community of scientists, marine volunteer organizations, formal and informal educators and interested citizens to form an ocean learning community."

http://www.oceaninquiry.org/
http://www.coseeolc.net/how-we-help.cfm

In addition to enjoying a beautiful day on the water and getting to know beach naturalists from surrounding counties, the trip introduced us to oceanographic sampling techniques and the importance of this research in monitoring the quality of our ocean environment.

If this opportunity is available again in the future, we would encourage everyone to sign up!

New County Internet GIS Maps

At the County Fair the County Public Works Department is demonstrating its new GIS mapping system. Here is the link: https://www.sjcgis.org/ All photos were taken in June 2008. It is a great improvement over the current system. The photos are clear and you can make copies.

Last daytime low tide cycle of the season

August 17th and 18th
Russel Barsh would like volunteers to help with the last intertidal surveys and fishing for the season. Both days will begin at 9:30 at Fishing Bay.

Next week is also a good time to either begin, or continue your Invasive Species surveys and record your data on the MISM website.

Save the Date

An evening with Hedrick Smith. Producer of FRONTLINE'S 'poisoned waters' documentary. He will be sharing stories and video from his latest film.

Place- The Orcas Center
Date-Sunday, September 13th
Time - TBA

Poisoned Waters

I'm sure many of you have already seen Hedrick Smith's 'Poisoned Waters' special. For those of you who have not, below is a link to view the PBS website or you can view the video right here. I finally got around to watching it and found it very moving. I encourage you to take the time to watch it and to pass the link on to others who might be interested. The more people who see it, the better.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/poisonedwaters/

Vanishing Salmon in Alaska

Here is a link to an article I read in the Associated Press. Not good news, but thought you might be interested.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090802/ap_on_bi_ge/us_vanishing_king_salmon_5