We’re keeping a close eye on conditions in the Pacific Ocean, where the marine heat wave we reported on a couple weeks ago has now gained attention from the Seattle Times.

Since our story appeared, the warming of waters off the Pacific Northwest coast has continued. A large area west of Oregon and Northern California is more than 7 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than normal as of Aug. 4.

There are plenty of reasons to care about this, one of which are the impacts warmer water can have on razor clam and Dungeness crab harvests. The marine toxin domoic acid appears more likely when the ocean is abnormally warm. The latest tests by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife on Aug. 1 found a fairly sharp increase in domoic acid in clams sampled from what WDFW calls the Twin Harbors beach between the mouth of Willapa Bay and Westport — to 14 parts per million, up from 8 ppm on July 6. This is still below the 20 ppm cutoff for clam digging, but the upward trend is worrisome. On the Long Beach Peninsula, sampling found 9 ppm on Aug. 1, up a less-concerning 3 points since July. But with around six weeks to go before clamming would ordinarily start, I personally would not buy a license yet if you don’t already have one from this spring.

On another subject, many have voiced support for independent local journalism in the aftermath of the Pacific County Sheriff’s Office’s defamatory and ridiculous attack. Thank you! Suffice it to say for now that everything we report about that office is based on official sources including court documents, public records and directly quoted emails from the sheriff’s public information officer. While this probably won’t convince the minority who reject any news that differs from their politically charged beliefs, we have the truth solidly on our side.

We believe in the importance of high-quality local law enforcement and have strong professional relationships with Pacific County’s other police agencies.

Our latest story on the marine heat wave can be found here: www.chinookobserver.com/news/local/new-blob-on-the-horizon/article_d3c094c2-298c-11ee-be0f-1b7199972a8c.html.

My most recent editorial regarding the sheriff’s office: www.chinookobserver.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-sheriffs-office-success-is-vital-for-us-all/article_1b0f8796-271e-11ee-a052-9bfbdf7010a2.html.

And here is my response to the sheriff’s July 31 social media post: www.chinookobserver.com/opinion/columns/editor-responds-to-sheriffs-post/article_1cba6d02-307b-11ee-978f-e7e09fbff11d.html.

As always, we thoroughly appreciate your support of the Chinook Observer. We are a community project devoted to accurate information.