Northwest Briefly: Whale was likely struck by a ship

Published 11:44 pm Sunday, August 9, 2009

TACOMA — Biologists say a dead whale that turned up on Friday in a Commencement Bay waterway was likely struck by a ship before it died.

A necropsy performed on the animal Saturday showed the 46-foot-long juvenile fin whale had broken ribs, hemorrhaging, bruising and associated trauma in the chest area, indicating the animal was alive when it was struck.

The News Tribune of Tacoma reported that a team of eight scientists from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and Olympia-based Cascadia Research Collective conducted the necropsy on McNeil Island, where the carcass will remain.

Fin whales are the second largest species of whale.

Richland: Fish to be tested for possible Hanford toxins

Hundreds of fish are being caught in the Columbia River as part of the cleanup efforts at the Hanford nuclear reservation.

The Tri-City Herald reported that the U.S. Department of Energy wants to check how contamination from Hanford has affected the Columbia River’s fish.

Plans call for 530 fish to be caught and tested in labs. Their organs will be tested for any Hanford chemicals or radionuclides that could harm anyone eating the fish.

Environmental Assessment Services of Richland has been contracted to fish the waters. It is using commercial fishing techniques to catch as many fish possible.

The collection of fish is part of a comprehensive study, which also includes sampling of river water, soil on Hanford islands and sediment from the river.

The findings will go into final cleanup plans for land around Hanford.

Oregon: Shark spotted at beach

Seaside police are warning beach crowds to watch out for sharks.

Police officers on Sunday drove up and down the beach and used loudspeakers to announce a shark sighting.

Lt. Dave Ham says lifeguards saw a distinctive dorsal fin Sunday and a lifeguard came across a porpoise Saturday that had been attacked.

The beach was not closed.

Ham says officials at the Seaside aquarium told him warm waters have moved closer to shore, bringing in seals and porpoises, which attract sharks.

Even with state’s OK, Oregon hemp growers will face hurdles

Despite recent approval from state lawmakers, industrial hemp growth in Oregon faces a number of hurdles, including a less than ideal local climate and likely opposition from the Drug Enforcement Agency, an Oregon State University official said.

Hemp and its close cousin, marijuana, were outlawed by the federal government in the 1930s. But Oregon will become one of a handful of states to give farmers the option of growing it when the new law — signed by Gov. Ted Kulongoski on Tuesday — takes effect Jan. 1.

Hemp can be used to make food or industrial materials like paper. But it falls under federal anti-drug rules because it has trace amounts of the mind-altering chemical THC.

The legislation requires industrial hemp to have very low levels of THC, and the law also redefines “marijuana” and “controlled substance” under Oregon law to further distinguish industrial hemp.

From Herald news services