Good new for fishers. The Blob has disappeared! No not the movie “The Blob” but the pool of exceptionally warm ocean water that has been bringing tropical species of fish into British Columbia waters and affecting the migration and health of the salmon, the feeding habits of the halibut, the movement of the Orca, sea mammals, and the other ocean life for the past two years.

When we last posted an update on this subject we had let everyone know that this phenomenon has been tracked through the years and is projected to recur about once every 750 years (though how they predict this is a mystery) and last one to two seasons… True to the prediction it has now dissipated and NASA is indicating it is not likely to recur (at least for the present time).

Nasa explained that an unusually strong high pressure ridge weakened winds in the area in the winter of 2013 – 2014. This wind affected the wind driven churning of the sea which brings the deep cool water towards the surface and basically shut down the natural ocean circulation in the area. This caused a cascading reaction because the microscopic phytoplankton thrive in the cold waters and the warm surface blob meant the phytoplankton so critical to the food chain were being starved of nutrients hense affecting all the species from plankton on up.

The result should be the the slow returning to normal of the Pacific eco system over the next 3 years according to Uiversity of Victoria oceanographer Richard Dewey and the rebound of salmon by next year.

Thanks to guest Todd Greene who sent us this great news and a couple other topics of interest to share.
For more details feel free to visit the cbc.ca news release and the NASA news release