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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2019
Starfi sh vanishing amid disease, warming oceans
Die-off linked to
climate change
By LYNDA V. MAPES
Seattle Times
Once a common delight
of every beachcomber, sun-
fl ower starfi sh — the large,
multi armed starfi sh some-
times seen underwater at the
near shore — are imperiled
by disease and ocean warm-
ing along the West Coast.
The devastation occurred
over just a few years, and
even affected starfi sh in
deeper water, according to
research led by the Uni-
versity of California, Davis
and Cornell University pub-
lished in the journal Sci-
ence Advances.
At one time plentiful,
the sea suns, or sunfl ower
starfi sh, right now can-
not be found off the Cal-
ifornia coast and are rare
northward into Alaska, said
Drew Harvell, the paper’s
co-author and Cornell pro-
fessor of ecology and evo-
lutionary biology. The star-
fi sh have become so rare
over the past three years
the scientists consider them
endangered in the southern
part of their range.
“I don’t know the words
to describe it, these things
Ed Gullekson/Science Advances
A dying sunfl ower star affl icted with sea star wasting disease.
were as common as a robin
in our ecosystem,” Harvell
said in an interview. “Never,
ever would anyone imagine
they would be threatened
and endangered. To watch
that happen on our watch
has been discouraging.”
Sea star wasting disease
beginning in 2013 caused a
massive die-off of starfi sh
of multiple species, from
Mexico to Alaska. Hid-
eous to behold, the disease
causes starfi sh to fall apart,
with pieces of their arms
walking away, or their bod-
ies disintegrating on pil-
ings, beaches, rocks and the
sea fl oor.
The disease also has
affected starfi sh on shores
from New Jersey to New
England.
The sunfl ower star con-
tinues to decline, even in
Transit district uses credit to protect
bus lines from another shutdown
A $400,000
insurance policy
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
The Sunset Empire
Transportation District will
take out a $400,000 line of
credit to help cover opera-
tions in case the federal gov-
ernment shuts down again.
Transit agencies across
the U.S. receive large por-
tions of their operational
budgets through reimburse-
ments from the Federal Tran-
sit Administration, whose
employees were furloughed
throughout the government
shutdown that ended Friday.
Sunset Empire, which
receives more than half of its
operational funding from the
federal government , is miss-
ing about $185,000 worth
of reimbursements covering
September through Decem-
ber . The agency’s govern-
ing board had been looking
at either drastic cuts to bus
lines and employee hours or
a loan.
“They were very ada-
mant that they don’t want
to cut service,” Jeff Hazen,
the transit district’s exec-
utive director , said of why
his board voted to accept the
line of credit. “The district
will have it in case there’s
another shutdown.”
Hazen had previously
warned that the bus agency
would be out of compliance
with state budget law if it
spent its budgeted ending
fund balance of $550,000 to
cover operations. He walked
back the statement Tuesday,
but said the agency needs
to keep the cash on hand
to cover payroll and other
operational costs as property
taxes, timber taxes, federal
reimbursements and other
revenue comes in.
Whether Sunset Empire
ultimately has to tap into
the line of credit, which
comes with a 5.5 percent
interest rate for any money
taken out, will depend on
the approximately $143,000
in federal reimbursements it
expects to receive each quar-
ter . It should receive the out-
standing
reimbursements
in the next 30 to 45 days,
Hazen said.
“And if things are OK,
we still have that line of
credit,” Hazen said. “That
can sit there as a revenue
source if we have to use it.”
Marjorie
L. Burke
SNOHOMISH— Marjorie (Margie) L. Burke was called home to be with her Lord
and Savior on January 2, 2019, in Snohomish, Wash. Marjorie was born Jan.
29, 1940, to Paul and Beata (Genrich) Buesing in Merrill, Wisc., completing the
family with her brother James whom she loved dearly. She grew up in Merrill
and attended the University of Wisconsin, Lacrosse with a focus on Physical
Education.
Margie married Charles K. Burke of Stephenson, Mich., on June 30, 1962, in
Merrill, Wisc., and lived in Green Bay, Wisc., and then Snohomish, Wash., before
moving to Long Beach, Wash.
Margie volunteered and coached Girls Basketball at Zion Lutheran School in
Snohomish, Wash., in the mid-1970s. She continued her education, graduating in
1979 with a Bachelor of Science from Central Washington University.
She worked most of her life in accounting, many years at D.A. Duryee in Everett
Wash. Margie loved the Green Bay Packers, golf, flying kites, the beach, her
family, friends and the Lord Jesus, spending many happy hours flying kites on the
beach, and playing cribbage with her grandson, Garrett and winning many family
cribbage tournaments. She took Garrett on a road trip to Lambeau Field. They
enjoyed many years of Packer stories together. Margie loved and walked with her
Savior, Jesus Christ and went on many mission trips. She served with Youth with
a Mission in 1990. Margie went on an outreach mission to Okinawa, Japan and
worked with Jackie Pullenger’s ministry in Hong Kong helping drug addicts.
Margie is survived by daughters, Debra Hawkins (James) and Stephanie Edwards
(Michael); grandson Garrett Latham; dearest friend Barbara Duensing; sister- in-
law Kay Buesing (James); nieces, Kim Abel (Robert) and Pam Buesing Moore
(Don Moore); grandnephews Kellen Abel and Riley Abel; and numerous cousins
and close friends.Her presence will be missed in our earthly lives, yet we find
happiness in rejoicing in her eternal bliss.
Friends and family please join us at Margie’s Celebration of Life on
Saturday, March 9, at 1 p.m. at New Life Church, 405 1st Ave N in Ilwaco.
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the deepest ocean, and is
not recovering like some
other species, such as the
ochre star.
Global warming is likely
a major cause of the dis-
ease, causing a heat wave
in the oceans. Warmer tem-
peratures exacerbate sea
star wasting disease, allow-
ing it to kill faster and have
a bigger impact, said Har-
vell, author of the forthcom-
ing book “Ocean Outbreak,
Confronting the Rising Tide
of Marine Disease.”
Starfi sh matter in the
ocean — and not only
because they are every kid’s
fi rst friend on the beach.
Sunfl ower stars in partic-
ular prey voraciously on
sea urchins — which keeps
urchin grazing on kelp for-
ests in check. As sunfl ower
stars crash, urchins surge
— and mow down kelp for-
ests. That reduces the wav-
ing, green underwater nurs-
eries that young fi sh need to
thrive.
Sunfl ower stars are the
lions of the subtidal zone,
big as a manhole cover and
with mighty appetites. That
is why losing sunfl ower
stars threatens the biodiver-
sity they nurture, said Joe
Gaydos, another author on
the paper and science direc-
tor at the SeaDoc Society.
“The cascading effect
has a really big impact,”
Gaydos said.
The crash in sunfl ower
starfi sh corresponds with
ocean warming by up to 4
degrees Celsius that started
in 2014. Trawl surveys
from Mexico to the Cana-
dian border recorded a total
wipeout of sunfl ower star-
fi sh in all states, and in
deep water down to 1,000
meters.
Because they live under-
water and are not often
seen from shore, the sun-
fl ower starfi sh crash has
gone unnoticed by compar-
ison with the dripping, ooz-
ing horror of the ochre stars
on display at every Puget
Sound beach and beyond.
“We don’t see a lot of
what happens under the
ocean,” Gaydos said. “It
reminds us that we need to
pay attention, there are a lot
of changes coming in the
ocean. It is a little bit terri-
fying when you think about
climate change, we know
we are going to have warm-
ing and we can expect more
of these marine disease out-
breaks. “
Harvell agreed. “A
warmer world is a sicker
world,” she said.
“That is why we have
been so determined to do
the science and get the
story out. There is nothing
we care more about than the
biodiversity of the Salish
Sea waters.”
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Clatsop Post 12
The family of Karl Hand would like to
express their heartfelt appreciation
to the following for their courtesy,
compassion and kindness:
Seaside Fire Marshall, fire
department members, police
department, Hughes-Ransom
Funeral & Mortuary attendants.
We also thank Jeff Goldberg, Geno
Dunton, Jena Cooke and Barber
Bob for their loving care of
Karl in his final years.
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CHICKEN
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Friday
Feb. 1 st
4 pm until gone
$
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ASTORIA
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Clatsop Post 12
1132 Exchange Street
325-5771