Tulalip News

New Sportfishing Fees Will Help Move Gill Nets Off Columbia River

Source: Oregon Public Broadcasting, October 4, 2013

The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission on Friday approved new fees for salmon, steelhead and sturgeon fishing in the Columbia River Basin.

The fees are part of Gov. John Kitzhaber’s plan to end non-tribal commercial gill netting in the Columbia River channel. It allows recreational anglers to catch more salmon in the Columbia River channel by moving commercial gill-netters into off-channel areas.

But it also requires recreational anglers to pay a new set of fees – $9.75 a year or a dollar a day. The fees are expected to generate $1 million a year. Most of that money will be used to boost the production of hatchery fish for commercial gill-netters to catch in off-channel areas.

Hobe Kytr of the gill-netting group Salmon for All said that funding won’t make the gill-netters whole once they are barred from fishing on the Columbia River channel.

“If it helps further the concept so we can have something to catch, then I guess that’s fine and dandy,” he said.

But he said the river’s off-channel areas don’t have enough capacity to support the gill-net fishery.

“We have opposed this plan from the get-go,” Kytr said.

Commissioners said they were surprised to learn that the fees would have to apply to sport fishing in tributaries of the Columbia River as well as the main channel. That means people fishing for salmon in the Deschutes River or the John Day or even the Oregon stretch of the Snake River will have to pay the fees as well.

The new fees, known as endorsements, will be required in the rivers outlined in blue.

That was unwelcome news to Commissioner Laura Anderson of Newport. She was the sole board member to vote against the new fees. Anderson said she thought the fees would be limited to sport fishers in the Columbia River channel, or main stem.

“I really don’t feel good about what I feel is a switcheroo,” she said. “I think the intent was for a main stem to main stem commercial-recreational deal.”

Commissioner Bobby Levy asked Oregon Fish and Wildlife Fish Division Administrator Ed Bowles whether the meeting would be packed “with people screaming their heads off” if more recreational anglers knew the fees applied to fisheries in tributaries to the Columbia River and not just the main channel.

Bowles said organized sport fishing groups helped negotiate fees but most of the public is still unaware of them.

“The public blowback is probably still to come,” he said.

Washington state already imposes a surcharge for fishing on the Columbia River.

Inslee Wants To Explore State-Only ‘Cap and Trade’ Scheme

Source: OPB.org

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Gov. Jay Inslee on Monday laid out his wish list for how he’d like Washington state to combat global warming pollution.

It includes eliminating any electricity generated by coal and putting a statewide cap on greenhouse gas emissions. Legislative Republicans immediately raised concerns.

Back in 2008, the Washington Legislature set ambitious goals for reducing the state’s carbon footprint. But they’re just goals, without enforcement mechanisms. Subsequently, a pact between 11 Western states and provinces to put a price on greenhouse gas emissions fell apart.

Now Inslee chairs a bipartisan legislative work group tasked with recommending policies to achieve the state’s climate goals. He says on its current course the state will fall far short.

“That shows the necessity in my view of having a belt-and-suspenders, economy wide approach to capping emissions in this state,” the Democratic governor said.

By that Inslee means a “carbon cap and trade” system for industrial polluters along with requirements to increase use of alternative fuels in transportation.

Republican legislators flanking the governor at a workgroup meeting weren’t shy about raising the fear that this could drive businesses to leave Washington for less regulated neighboring states.

“How do we address for Washington state going it alone on certain issues in terms of the economic impact to manufacturing, job base and agriculture,” Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, rhetorically asked.

The four legislative members of the work group also offered proposals Monday.

Ericksen talked up nuclear power. Rep. Shelly Short, R-Addy, suggested focusing on energy conservation incentives, especially to increase energy efficiency in buildings. Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, D-Burien, echoed the governor’s call to “transition off fossil fuels” in transportation.

Sen. Kevin Ranker, D-Orcas Island, joined Inslee in proposing to wean the state’s electric utilities off of coal-fired generation. The State of Washington has already signed a deal with the energy company TransAlta to phase out the only large coal power plant inside the state’s borders – that located in Centralia. Now the Democratic politicians are targeting what they call “coal-by-wire,” meaning utility purchases of electricity generated from coal at out-of-state power plants. The bipartisan workgroup aims to produce a prioritized set a recommendations by December for how the state can curb carbon emissions in the future.

The goal is the get the state back on track to meet the following targets set by the 2008 Washington Legislature:

By 2020, reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions in the state to 1990 levels;
By 2035, reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions in the state to 25% below 1990 levels;
By 2050, reduce overall emissions to 50% below 1990 levels, or 70% below the state’s expected emissions that year if it were to continue with business as usual.

Citizens can offer their two cents for how the state should try to cut global warming pollution at two upcoming public hearings. The first is Wednesday evening in Spokane. A second hearing is scheduled for Oct. 23 at the Seattle waterfront.

This was first reported by the Northwest News Network.

Stevens and Leecy: Establish a Native American Heritage Day

Source: Indianz.com

Ernie Stevens and Kevin Leecy, the chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the National Indian Gaming Association, call for the creation of Native American Heritage Day:

As the chairman and vice chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association, we offer this Columbus Day message on behalf of the 184 tribes that form our organization. Throughout this great and diverse Nation, there are certain holidays that carry more weight for certain segments of our nation than for others. This is true for Indian people as well. There are certain holidays that generate discussion amongst our Tribal citizens and their tribal governments because they speak to our place in the history of this great democracy. Columbus Day is certainly one of those holidays. Indian people have their own governments, cultures, societies, and values that were in place long before we were supposedly “discovered.” Our status as preexisting sovereign nations is acknowledged in the Constitution of the United States in three separate sections. The treaties our ancestors signed with the United States are still in force today and are as the Constitution states: “The supreme law of the land.” Tribes have great respect for the preservation of our roles as separate sovereigns under the Constitution and at the same time Indian people are proud American citizens as shown through our high rates of participation in military service to this nation. Tribes are determined to uphold their rights assured through the treaties with the United States of America and to ensure that our children are provided with accurate historical accounts of our families, societies, governments, and status as separate nations, as well as our true place in world history.

Get the Story:
Ernest L. Stevens Jr. & Kevin Leecy: NIGA Talks About Columbus Day and the History of Indian Country (Indian Country Today 10/14)

Controversial Sports Mascots Not New; Released More Than a Decade Ago, NCAI Says

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

A poster image that went viral because of its controversial references to sports mascots: New York Jews, San Francisco Chinamen and Cleveland Indians, has caused some media confusion.

According to Slate, news media reported that the poster was “new” and was released recently by the National Congress of American Indians because of the Redskins name change controversy.

But an NCAI source told ICTMN that those reports are inaccurate. The poster, shown above, is not a new one. It was originally published and distributed by the NCAI more than a decade ago. The organization said that what’s “new” is that people are finally paying attention to the Redskins controversy and have merely “stumbled upon” the image during their reporting.

The image, as seen above, shows that there is a double standard between the stereotypical Native American mascots like the Cleveland Indians and other racial epithets. The quote on the poster reads, ”No race, creed or religion should endure the ridicule faced by the Native Americans today.”

The NCAI says that they have been working to shed light on offensive and racist sports team mascots for decades. Jacqueline Pata, Executive Director for the NCAI, pointed out that the original poster was developed in the 1990s, but published by the advertising firm Devito/Verdi in 2001.

Pata told Slate magazine, which has denounced the so-called ‘R’ word that “Those kinds of racial images aren’t even acceptable today.” In other words, the ‘racial equality ad” is not something that the organization would have put out recently because of its tendency to offend and be misconstrued as their response to the current name change controversy.

The organization has instead asked the public to focus on its 29-page report called “Ending the Legacy of Racism in Sports & the Era of Harmful ‘Indian’ Sports Mascots.” ICTMN reported that the report was released last week.

Jefferson Keel, the president of the NCAI, has publicly stated that the word Redskins is a racial slur to the Native American community as is very offensive.

“[That name] originated in the bounty paid for Native body parts and human flesh. It does not honor Native people in any way, and has no place in modern American society,” he explained in a news release.

Top adult and children Halloween costumes not scary this year

Goodwill costume trending poll: 29 stores, 15 counties, 1,500 costumes sample thru last weekend (Oct 1 – 13)

George White, Tacoma Goodwill

TACOMA, WA (October 15, 2013) – After 13 days of costume sales at 29 Goodwill stores in Tacoma Goodwill’s 15 county region, non-scary costumes are topping the list for adults and children this year.

*Adults (684)*	%	*Children (821)*	%
Fairy – traditional (33)	4.8	Animals (86)	10.5
Witch – sexy (32)	4.7	Princess (55)	6.7
Vamp (29)	4.2	Fairy – traditional (49)	6.0
Hick (26)	3.8	Angel	5.4
Witch – scary (25)	3.7	Ninja (43)	5.2
Zombie (24)	3.5	Vampire (35)	4.3
Cheerleader (23)	3.4	Tinkerbell Fairy (31)	3.8
Devil – sexy (23)	3.4	Witch – scary (27)	3.3
Vampire (21)	3.1	Witch – hip (25)	3.1
Army brat, Flapper, Go Go Girl, Nurse-Sexy, Soldier	2.3	Police Officer (24)	2.9

In a straw poll of 1,500 costume purchases from Oct 1 – 13 where cashiers asked customers their costume choice(s):

A majority of the top 10 are non-scary: seven top adult and eight top children’s costumes are traditional, fun or sexy this year
More kids costumes are selling (821) than adults (684)
Top children costumes are trending unisex (gender neutral) such as animals, ninja, vampire and police officer
The impact of merchandising is apparent as adult and children fairy costumes were a featured item in our store imagination station wall displays

The poll reflects the imagination of Washington residents this year as the vast majority of Goodwill costumes are assembled from a non-Halloween base product that is accessorized. (For example, a fairy would be centered around tights, a leotard, a tutu and slippers accessorized with wings, a wand and make up. A “ghost bride” would consist of a real wedding dress with a white hat, parasol and makeup for accessories – and all for 20% of original cost).

“By culling through 8,000 truckloads of household, estate and community donations each year, we create a Halloween shopping experience similar to visiting a wardrobe department in a movie studio,” said John Nadeau, Director of Retail Sales for Tacoma Goodwill.

“Pirate coats, boots and belts are real. And the same for pilot, soldier, fireman, doctor and nurse attire. Now a “She Devil” can wear that fantastic red dress AND Prada,” said Nadea.

Chile indigenous groups mark Columbus Day with protests

Some of the protesters threw rocks and other objects at police after the main, peaceful march earlier Saturday. Photo: Luis Hidalgo/AP

13 October, 2013. Source: Al Jazeera

Protesters clashed with police in Chile’s capital Saturday during an anti-Columbus Day march organized by Indigenous groups, with activists calling for the return of ancestral lands and the right to self-determination on the 521-year anniversary of the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas.

Demonstrators in Santiago threw rocks and other objects at police who responded with water cannons. At least 10 protesters were detained by police, local media reported.

More than 15,000 people participated in the march, organized by the country’s largest indigenous group, the Mapuches, who have been in a long struggle with the government over ancestral land taken from them during colonization.

While Columbus Day celebrations took place across Latin America, the Mapuche affirmed, “we have nothing to celebrate”, according to the Santiago Times.

A press release by the group complained of mistreatment by the state, particularly against Mapuche political prisoners, and on-going land disputes in the south.

On Wednesday, a major police operation cleared indigenous occupants from disputed land in Ercilla, in southern Chile, and eight Mapuche activists were arrested. Witnesses said the police response was aggressive and unprovoked, the Santiago Times reported.

The Mapuche people have been fighting to accelerate the process of repatriation of traditional lands. The government has said it will return some of the land, but the process has been slow and the perceived inaction has been met with demonstrations and occasional violence.

Mapuche protesters have been treated as ‘terrorists’ by the Chilean government — which uses an anti-terrorism law against them. Thousands of Mapuche and their supporters demanded an end to the application of this law on Mapuche land activists in peaceful marches Saturday.

The U.N. urged Chile to stop applying the anti-terrorism law against the Mapuche in July.

“The anti-terrorism law has been used in a manner that discriminates against the Mapuche,” U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism Ben Emmerson said in a press release. “It has been applied in a confused and arbitrary fashion that has resulted in real injustice, has undermined the right to a fair trial, and has been perceived as stigmatizing and de-legitimizing the Mapuche land claims and protests.”

Though the Mapuche resisted Spanish conquest for 300 years and wish to be autonomous, in the late 19^th century they were defeated militarily and forced into Araucania, south of the Bio-Bio river — about 350 miles south of Santiago. Most live in poverty on the fringes of timber companies or ranches owned by the descendants of those who arrived to the region in the late 1800s from Europe.

Another anti-Columbus Day protest took place Saturday in Mexico City, where people from various indigenous groups marched peacefully to observe “Dia de la Raza,” or Indigenous People’s Day, as Columbus Day is called in Mexico.

“Indigenous people are in resistance because we are survivors after 500 years of the European invasion,” Leonico Macuixle, a demonstrator, told The Associated Press. “They came to take from us our culture, our language, they built Catholic churches in our sacred places.”

Global ‘March Against Monsanto’ rallies activists

People hold signs during one of many worldwide “March Against Monsanto” protests against Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and agro-chemicals, in Los Angeles, California Saturday. Photo: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

By Renee Lewis, 12 October, 2013. Source: Al Jazeera

Activists from around the globe participated in a global ‘March Against Monsanto’ Saturday, calling for the permanent boycott of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). This was the second global, anti-Monsanto protest — the first took place on May 25 with over 2 million participants, organizers said.

Photos appear to show hundreds of marchers taking to the streets in cities around the world including Vienna, London, Chennai and Sydney. Rallies have kicked off in U.S. cities as well including Los Angeles and Denver.

Critics of Monsanto, a multi-national biotech corporation, say its seeds destroy the soil and are designed to make constant repurchase necessary because the seeds last only one generation. The seeds must also be used with a variety of the company’s other products like fertilizers, fungicides and pesticides, which have been linked to mass bee deaths.

Monsanto, which touts itself as a “sustainable agriculture company” and is worth over $55 billion, says it produces high-yield conventional and biotech seeds that enable more nutritious and durable crops and “safe and effective crop protection solutions.” The U.S. government also says Monsanto’s products are safe.

March Against Monsanto (MAM), however, says GMOs are not properly monitored to ensure public safety and that no long-term, independent studies were carried out on GMOs before they were introduced for human consumption.

“In the U.S., the revolving door between Monsanto employees, government positions and regulatory authorities has led to key Monsanto figures occupying positions of power at the FDA and EPA. Monsanto has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to obstruct all labeling attempts; they also suppress any research containing results not in their favor,” MAM said in a press release.

GMOs have been banned to varying degrees in Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, Madeira, New Zealand, Peru, Russia, France, Switzerland and Costa Rica.

GMOs are labeled in 62 countries, but not the U.S. despite several attempts. Last fall, Californian voters narrowly rejected an initiative to label GMOs, and a similar initiative is on the Nov. 5 Washington state ballot.

Prominent environmentalist Vandana Shiva has been outspoken against Monsanto, particularly in light of the corporation’s link to hundreds of thousands of Indian farmer suicides.

More than 250,000 farmers have committed suicide in India after Monsanto’s Bt cotton seeds largely failed. Many farmers left in desperate poverty decided to drink Monsanto pesticide, ending their lives.

“The creation of seed monopolies, the destruction of alternatives, the collection of superprofits in the form of royalties and the increasing vulnerability of monocultures has created a context for debt, suicides and agrarian distress,” Shiva wrote.

Josh Castro, organizer for the Quito, Ecuador march said in a press release that he hopes to stop the “destructive practices of multinational corporations like Monsanto.”

“Biotechnology is not the solution to world hunger … Monsanto’s harmful practices are causing soil infertility, mono-cropping, loss of biodiversity, habitat destruction and contributing to beehive collapse.

Lagoons filled with toxic water coming to Ohio’s fracklands

John Upton, Grist

Where frackers go, lagoons filled with toxic wastewater follow.

Fracking wastewater impoundment lots as big as football fields already dot heavily fracked landscapes in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The lagoons are built to help the industry manage and reuse the vast volumes of wastewater that it produces.

Ohio lawmakers looked admiringly to their neighboring Marcellus Shale states and decided to draw up their own rules for wastewater lagoons. From The Columbus Dispatch:

“We are putting in a process to outline their standards of construction and their length of use,” said Mark Bruce, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

A provision in the most-recent state budget requires Natural Resources officials to create rules and permits for them. …

Tom Stewart, vice president of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, said the lagoons would be built with plastic liners to prevent leaks. He said treatment operations would strip out harmful pollutants.

“They want to clean it up and use it again,” Stewart said. “That means getting the water back to as fresh a state as possible.”

But environmentalists worry the wastewater pits will pose threats to streams and groundwater. Trent Dougherty, a lawyer with the Ohio Environmental Council, also warned that they could be used as long-term storage for tainted water: “There is a point in time when temporary storage can become long-term storage,” he said.

Source

Big lagoons could hold Ohio fracking waste, The Columbus Dispatch

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

Yum! Climate change means more mercury in fish

By Holly Richmond, Grist

Climate change is ruining beer, maple syrup, chocolate — even your favorite Cosby sweater. Now we can add fish to the list. SWELL.

Basically, warming waters make killifish hungrier, according to new research. Then these bitty fish at the bottom of the food chain eat more mercury-tainted food than usual, storing lots of metal in their tissue as a present for everyone up the food chain, from tuna to humans. Mercury: the gift that keeps on giving! (Did we mention it’s increasingly in bird eggs too?)

Quoth the Washington Post:

[K]illifish at the bottom of the food chain will probably absorb higher levels of methylmercury in an era of global warming and pass it on to larger predator fish, such as the tuna stacked in shiny little cans in the cupboards of Americans and other people the world over.

“The implication is this could play out in larger fish…because their metabolic rate is also increasing,” said Celia Chen, a professor at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and one of six authors of the study. “Methylmercury isn’t easily excreted, so it stays. It suggests that there will be higher methylmercury concentrations in the fish humans eat as well.”

Lest you think the Minamata Convention on Mercury last week was just scientists in lab coats breaking open thermometers and cackling wildly, that’s where this research was discussed. Oh yeah, they also signed a massively important treaty:

Delegates from 130 nations at the three-day convention that ended Friday met to sign a treaty that seeks to greatly limit emissions from coal-fired power plants from industrial nations, mining operations in Africa and other sources that pollute oceans.

Good thing no Americans were there because of the government shutdown! (Le sigh.) Who wants a tuna sandwich?

Source

Study links warmer water temperatures to greater levels of mercury in fish, Washington Post

Holly Richmond (hollyrichmond.com) writes and edits things for fun and money. She worked for Grist in the 1890s. Please follow her on Twitter because that is the entire basis of her self-esteem.

Native students ready satellite for space

Jenna Cederberg, Buffalo Post

Salish Kootenai College students are a part of a team that will soon launch the first “CubeSat” satellite into space.

Physics student Cory Drowatsky tests CubeSat in what he describes as “moment of inertia” with assistance from computer engineering student Zach DuMontier. (Photo by Lailani Upham/Char-Koosta News)

Char-Koosta News reporter Lailani Upham reports about the work the students are doing at SKC’s Division of Sciences.

CubeSats are small “low cost” satellites in the shape of a cube 10 centimeters in size used by universities, government agencies, and private businesses to orbit the earth to produce images utilizing solar power.

The SKC CubeSat selection is one to be proud of as the tribal college’s satellite design matches building and design along with big name colleges such as Cal-Berkeley, Notre Dam, Texas, MIT, and the U.S. Air Force Academy.

CubeSats are effective opportunities for undergraduate students to participate in space flight missions and NASA recognized the importance of the next generation of space scientist and engineers through build and design of the mini-satellites at their higher education institutions.

The CubeSat is set to go to space sometime in 2014.

The design is complete and the SKC team is working on the stages of testing equipment.

The aim of the project is to motivate and prepare Native students to go into careers at NASA centers, as NASA contactors, or attend universities performing NASA-sponsored research.