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Heal the Bay Blog

Author: Heal the Bay

With April right around the corner, the official beach monitoring season is upon us. Under AB 411, all heavily visited beaches near a potential pollution source statewide must be monitored once a week from April to the end of October.  The monitoring program provides critical information to better inform the public of the potential health risks of swimming at potentially polluted beaches.

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The so-called apology from the owners of the Hump, posted on their website, speaks for itself:

”The charge against the restaurant is true: The Hump served whale meat to customers looking to eat what in Japan is widely served as a delicacy … We sincerely apologize. We pledge to work hard to re-earn the trust of the public and respect of our customers.”

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About 100 outraged protesters came out to the beleaguered Hump
restaurant during lunchtime today, shouting their displeasure with the
Santa Monica eatery serving endangered whale meat. The Hump didn’t even
bother opening due to the buzz surrounding the protest. 

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By now you’ve probably heard that Santa Monica restaurant the Hump
allegedly served endangered Sei whale meat to the team that put together
the brilliant, Oscar-winning documentary “The Cove.” Endangered whale
served in our own backyard, less than two miles from my house and the
offices of Heal the Bay, Santa Monica Baykeeper and the NRDC!

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Overly zealous scientists, politicians and enviros embellish the
truth in order to make a point all too frequently. The controversy over
exaggerated or incorrect facts and dates on the global impacts of
climate change is just the latest example. The truth twisting has to
stop.  It hurts the cause.  It creates distractions and inertia in a
time when degradation is the dominant direction of most ecosystems.

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The International Bird Rescue Center has been overrun by starving
pelicans this winter. Speculation about what’s sickening birds from
Southern California to Oregon has ranged from El Nino conditions to climate change to polluted runoff.

The bottom line is that hundreds of Brown Pelicans have ended up sick
and malnourished. Many birds stayed too long in the frigid coastal
waters off Oregon and Northern California in search of fish prey that
just weren’t present in high densities. By migrating late, many pelicans
were buffeted by major storms and they didn’t build up the fat reserves
to withstand the inclement weather.

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After 20 years, the City of Los Angeles’ stormwater program is at a crossroads.

The program has come a long way since its beginnings in the early
nineties as a result of the Hyperion consent decree and new regulations
under the federal Clean Water Act and the first countywide stormwater
permit. The City has done a superb job on stormwater education for
students, businesses and the public. During the early 1990s, Heal the
Bay worked closely with the City on our Gutter Patrol program where
volunteers helped stencil tens of thousands of catch basins all over the
city. Today, the City runs the program and you can’t find a catch basin
in the city without a “No Dumping” stencil.

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