Sea Notes

Friday's Film: Plight of the Condor

Although today's movie feature is more about the flight of the condor, this critically endangered bird and an important component in the California coastal ecosystem is facing probably its biggest challenge since it was re-introduced back into the wild in 1991. A fire, sparked by lightening, is raging through prime condor habitat off the Big Sur coastline. It has already burned around 40 square miles of wilderness, and continues to burn.

Earlier this week, staff from Ventana Wildlife Society, with amazing courage and assistance from equally courageous U.S. Coastguard helicopter crew managed to rescue seven young condors and their adult mentor bird from the condor sanctuary (where young condors start their education before being released into the wild). Sadly, the staff learned later that the sanctuary had been burned.

You can follow the progress of the staff and their hopes and fears for the condors who are living wild in that area, and for the condors with chicks in the nest. It is a tense and worrying time for all involved. The work to return this endangered species to the wild has been painstaking and monumental, and our hopes and prayers go out to the birds and all involved in their recovery (including the brave firefighters who are working night and day to control the fire).

Here's a close-up look at these amazing birds at on scenic Highway 1, south of Big Sur

A bright idea

With many people adopting the "twisty" compact fluroscent (CFL) bulb these days, we were really in need of a good source for disposal and recycling.

This week, Home Depot announced that all it's nearly 2,000 stores, nationwide, would be accepting expired CFL's. IKEA has also been offering this for some time.

In a related move, Home Depot also plans to convert all its incandescent lighting to CFL by fall this year. Good news for the enviroment, and not bad for the pocket book of Home Depot either, with estimated annual savings of $16 million!

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has a great new summer deck show this year "Watt a Waste". If you are planning a visit, be sure to check out the show and find out about the energy monster living in your home!

We also have a free deck show available to all, on Hovden Way between the Aquarium's two buildings, where a mini musical will inform and entertain about what you might do with your trash this summer!

A whale of a week

My week started in the best way possible: watching a mom and calf humpback whale feeding in the nutrient rich waters of Monterey Bay. It's hard to say, however, if whales elsewhere are having such a great week.

On the one hand, Chile announced a proposal to designate its coastal waters as a whale sanctuary. An important move, given that the oceans in the southern hemisphere having been seeing increased activity in the hunt for whales for "scientific purposes".

Chile is the host of this year's International Whaling Commission meeting, and many hoped their announcement would set the tone. Japan responded by proposing the legalization of whaling. Looks like a long week ahead.

In other whale news, the Centre for Biological Diversity has filed a lawsuit seeking to force the U.S. Coast Guard to comply with the Endangered Species Act and protect endangered whales from ship traffic off the coast of California coast. In 2007, ship collisions were responsible for the deaths of at least three Blue whales off southern California, yet the Coast Guard maintains that it need not address endangered species when setting shipping lanes and otherwise regulating ship traffic headed into U.S. ports. That looks like a long battle too.

Meanwhile, on a more positive note, whales have provided inspiration to the designer of a wind turbine! Frank Fish (yes, apparently his real name!) after years of pondering over the design benefits of the shape of a humpback whale's unique flippers, finally got it! He realized that the bumps cause water to flow over the flippers more smoothly, giving the giant mammal the ability to swim tight circles around its prey. Fish realized this design feature could be incorporated into turbines. Now he's studying the nasal cavity of the shark, which might lead to developing an artificial nose. Just goes to prove how much we have to learn from the natural world.

(Thanks to Whaleygirl for the great breaching humpback image. Another finalist in our annual Ocean Action Team photo contest).

Amazing migrations

It seems that every day, satellite tagging and tracking of our ocean wanderers gives us new insights into the underwater world of our ocean planet.

Scientists tracking a basking shark that visited the UK for the summer, found the female shark made a trip of close to 6,000 miles to cross the Atlantic to visit Canada. On occasion, the shark dived to depths of half a mile. Scientists doubt this trip was unique, and may have uncovered a previously unknown migration route. Prior to this, little was known about where this population of basking sharks spent the winter.

The reasons for the shark's long journey, we can only speculate - feeding, mating etc. However, there is perhaps less to ponder when we hear that a polar bear landed on the shores of Iceland recently, about 500 miles off course. Many species around the planet are responding to the pressures of our changing climate. Let's hope we heed their warning.

Learn more about the work of tagging and tracking ocean wildlife at Tagging of Pacific Pelagics website.

Monday's Inspirational Photo

This stunning image by Deborah D. Lattimore was a runner up in our recent World Ocean Day photo contest. What better way to start your week?

Thanks to all the members of our Ocean Action Team, and readers of our Sea Notes e-newsletter who sent in their entries.   

Brown is Green

Great interview with The Food Network's Alton Brown on Grist.org, where he talks about his commitment to promote sustainable seafood and other steps to help people enjoy great food without damaging the environment.

Roz Cummins talked with him at our Cooking for Solutions events in May. She was one of about 50 food and environment writers who attended the public events and a daylong Sustainable Foods Institute we offer to members of the media. At the Institute, leaders from the culinary world, the food industry, academic institutions, and farming and fishing communities address important topics about how to bring our food systems in sync with healthy ecosystems.

Ros has written about the issue before, and this is a particularly lively piece of writing because of Alton's sparkling personality. At one point, she asks, "Is it possible to describe someone as wearing an entire suit at a rakish angle?" Several times Alton recounts ways his his eight-year-old daughter approaches food (take note of her "chicken moment") that are both delightful -- and insightful.

All in all, it's a quick and thought-provoking read for the start of summer.

Friday's Featured Film: Surf's Up

It's too nice in Monterey today. Ridiculously beautiful day. Not a day to be sitting at a computer. It's a day to be at the beach.

But.....before I go out to celebrate the arrival of summer, a Friday double feature for you.

First, this spectacular surfing clip (NOT someone surfing a tsunami, despite the name).

Then, music to set the mood for the day: Vintage Beach Boys, circa 1969, "Surfin' USA. It doesn't get much better.

Paper or plastic? No thanks!

Every year, thousands of seabirds, marine mammals and turtles are injured or killed because they encounter our litter in the ocean. Plastic bags are a big part of this problem and they are prolific! Over 19 billion one-time use plastic bags are handed out each year in California.

A new bill (AB 2058) seeks to address the growing problem of this major source of pollution by targetting retailers to cut down their usage and to get more of the bags back into the recycling stream. If this fails, then a 25-cent fee will be introduced (on both paper and plastic), which is hoped will encourage more people to bring their own canvas bag.

The bill will be heard by the Senate Environmental Quality Committee on Monday June 23rd. Please voice your support for this bill today by using our online letter tool today!

Let us know if you are finding ways to cut down on your use of disposables.

An Ich-y Situation

Just when you thought the state of Pacific salmon in 2008 couldn't get any worse, come two more pieces of bad news: one environmental, one political.

First, Ken Weiss, the Pulitzer Prize-winning oceans writer for the Los Angeles Times, reports that Alaska salmon -- up til now in such good shape that they're certified by the Marine Stewardship Council as sustainable and a Best Choice of our Seafood Watch program -- may be in trouble because of global warming.

The rivers in which they spawn are warming. Warmer water is more hospitable to diseases and parasites, including "white spot disease" from a parasite called ich for short (pronounced "ick") that renders Yukon River salmon unfit for anything but sled dogs or the garbage.

That's an environmental wake-up call.

On the political front, U.S. senators and members of Congress from the West Coast are fuming because the Bush Administration is proposing to cut $70 million from the $180 million disaster appropriation to aid the salmon fleet idled by the cancellation of this year's salmon season because of the California salmon population.

The money would be redirected to help pay for the 2010 federal census.

In a letter to the President, the bipartisan coalition asserts:

“This proposal is especially egregious when you consider that your administration’s water policies on all of the Pacific Northwest’s major salmon rivers are the reason this disaster funding is needed in the first place.”

And that was their reaction BEFORE he proposed reopening U.S. waters to offshore oil and gas development.

Monday's Inspirational Photo - Sea Otter

This lovely image was the runner up in our recent World Ocean Day photo contest. Glenn Hightree took this photo of one of our exhibit otters, Joy, in February this year. Joy also acts as a surrogate mom to young otters who have become separated from their moms in the wild. The hope is that these pups will learn the lifeskills they need to survive and can be returned to the wild and later become parents themselves. With only 3,000 sea otters in California waters, each animal has an important role to play in the future success and survival of this population.

California's sea otters are in the news again this week. A new draft report by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife service indicates that "Southern sea otters are holding their own on California's coast but their fragile population still is at risk from disease, oil spills and other disasters."

The Monterey Bay Aquarium's "Sea Otter Research and Conservation" program (SORAC) works with federal and state agencies to try to better understand the threats facing this threatened population, especially infectious disease, which is taking a heavy toll.To learn more, you can listen to our podcast or check out our SORAC web pages.

Want to do more? Check out our Save the Oceans section and learn how you can donate, join our Ocean Action Team or learn about how your seafood choices can make a difference.