Local
How many miles of habitat do imperiled rockfish need to survive?
Island Scene
Editorial
Celebration time: 40 years of Friday Harbor football
Record-low turnout: Coincidence? Or cracks in the foundation of democracy in Friday Harbor?
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Journal
The 75¢ Wednesday, August 14, 2013 Vol. 106 Issue 33
of the San Juan Islands
www.sanjuanjournal.com
Menjivar falls in council race
Ghatan, Shildneck square off in November
By Steve Wehrly Journal reporter Contributed photo / Julie Corey
A member of the Southern resident killer whales, designated as endangered under federal law in 2005, breaches the surface of Haro Strait, off the west side of San Juan Island.
Pot of money for patrols Feds, state pony up $1.2M to enforce killer whale rules Journal staff report
A combination of federal and state money, more than $1.2 million in all, will be used to boost enforcement of rules meant to better protect the struggling Southern resident killer whales of Puget Sound and the Salish Sea. Federal officials authorized spending roughly $900,000 on enforcement in response to a grant application by the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, according to
U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Everett, who in June sent a letter in support of the funding request to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. “Southern Resident Killer Whales are an inseparable part of the Puget Sound’s cultural, economic and ecological makeup,” Larsen noted in a press release. “This grant will put a cop on the beat to protect these endangered whales as they continue their recovery.” In addition to $924,961 in federal funds, Washington state will augment enforcement of onthe-water rules implemented by NOAA in 2011 with $300,000 in state money. Those rules include a restrictions that prohibit vessels of all types — motor boats, sail boats and kayaks — from approaching a
killer whale closer than 200 yards or from intercepting a whale or positioning a vessel in its path. Listed as endangered under federal law in the U.S and in Canada in 2005, the population of Southern residents, which consist of three closely related clans, J, K and L pods, now totals 82 animals, according to the most recent survey by San Juan Island’s Center for Whale Research. The population, which most recently peaked at 99 in 1995, plummeted to 79 over the next six years, and has hovered in the mid-80s during its tenure on the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The pool of state and federal funds will be used in part to hire an enforcement officer to See Patrols, Page 3
It’s one and done for Friday Harbor Town Councilman Felix Menjivar. Nearing the end of his first term in office, Menjivar, elected to the council with 73 percent of the vote in 2009, finished a distant third, with 18 percent, in the Aug. 6 three-way town council primary. While the San Juan County Sheriff ’s deputy’s name won’t be on the November general election ballot, the top two votegetters, first-time council candidates Farhad Ghatan and Matt Shildneck, will. Friday Harbor voters registered a big yawn instead of voting in the Town Council Position 4 primary, the only race on the Aug. 6 ballot. Only 33 percent of the town’s registered voters turned out, the lowest turnout on record for San Juan County. The next lowest was 42 percent for an Orcas Fire commissioner primary in 2009. Unofficial estimates put the cost of the town primary - the only item on the ballot - at about $5,000, or just over eleven dollars per vote. Ghatan was the top vote-getter
2011 Special Award; Second Place: General Excellence from the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association
with 211 votes, representing 47.5 percent of the votes. Shildneck garnered 153 votes or 34.5 percent, while Menjivar took 80 votes. None of the three candidates did much campaigning, but Ghatan See Race, Page 4
Fair time
Our annual county fair guide includes schedules, events, hours, admission prices, fair features, list of entertainment, and more. Find it inside.