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Heal the Bay Blog

You win some, you lose some. And some fights just are too soon to call.

Heal the Bay was a big winner this week at the FOX TV Eco Casino night (pictured right). Not only were we one of the evening’s beneficiaries, but some of us got to attend this swell Hollywood party. We thank FOX for continuing to support our work with this lively event.

Also in the win column: We feel resplendent in our new Patagonia gear, which the apparel company donated to outfit our Aquarium and Stream Team staff and volunteers (pictured below). Big thanks to Patagonia for their colorful—yet practical—contributions to environmental health!

In the “too close to call” category, this week we learned that the State Assembly rejected a bill that would have granted stronger enforcement powers to the California Coastal Commission. We supported AB 976, which will now be delayed at least year.

However, we are grateful to our many supporters who not only contacted their legislators in favor of the bill, but also traveled to Sacramento to testify on its behalf. Thank you especially to the Black Surfers Collective. We hope you sustain your efforts to make beaches accessible to everyone.

Feeling feisty? Check out Heal the Bay’s Action Alert page to find out which issues on our front burner.


Aquarist Jackie Cannata and Operations Manager Jose Bacallao model their Patagonia wear at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium.



After many years in L.A.’s crowded surf lineups, I’ve seen many things I’d rather forget: neon wetsuits, sophomoric fistfights, curmudgeonly longboarders.

But last weekend, I witnessed something in Santa Monica Bay that I’ll always remember.

My friend Geoff and I were in our customary Saturday morning surf spot, about 50 yards offshore in front of the smokestacks at the El Segundo/Manhattan Beach border. On flat days we spend a lot of time mindlessly bobbing, scanning the horizon for any kind of bump that might signal an oncoming wave. As we sat on our boards and stared out at the nearby oil tankers, a sinewy mass of flesh suddenly shot up from the sea, twisting and glistening in the early morning sun. It was like a mini torpedo launched from the depths, spiraling through the ocean surface. Straining briefly for the sky, the fish fell back to the sea with an alarming splash.

A 4-to-5-foot juvenile white shark had just breached a mere 20 feet away from us.

Stunned, we both gave each other one of those “Did-you-just-see-what-I-just-think-I-saw?” looks. We compared mental notes – the shape of the shark, the coloring, the size, the fins, the structure of the still-developing jaws. We knew we had indeed just seen the stuff of myths – a white shark in the wild.

I’m accustomed to seeing other kinds of small sharks at this spot. Connecting rides to the inside, I’ve had to dodge leopard sharks skittering in the clear, warm shallows south of the jetty. Looking for sand crabs, their mouths the size of a quarter, these sharks are completely harmless. But I still get the willies when my feet accidentally bump against their wriggly, squishy bodies.

But white sharks – no matter their size – are a different kettle of fish. When I tell friends about the sighting, many wonder why I didn’t get out of the water immediately. Seeing the pup, my mind and heart raced, but I had surprisingly little fear.

After all, I had heard reports on the news and from fellow surfers about shark sightings this summer in Santa Monica Bay. No one seemed that alarmed. (For a humorous or scary read, depending on your point of view, check out recent citizen-reported shark sightings off our coast on the Shark Research Committee website.) Manhattan Beach and Sunset Point in Pacific Palisades seem to be prime local real estate for the adolescent great whites. My surfboard shaper, Mark Brog, thinks the growing popularity of standup paddleboarding may be a reason for increased sightings the past few years. Circling up and down shorelines, SUPers have an ideal vantage point for spotting sharks.

At this point of their lives, the great whites scour our sandy bottoms in search of the smaller fish that make up their diet. As they grow, the sharks see their appetite switch to larger marine mammals and they migrate up the central and northern coasts, where more seals and sea lions can be found. Some theorize that any circling and jumping done by the juvenile sharks in local waters is their way of practicing for the hunt that will soon dominate their lives, like a puppy playing with a soup bone.

Maybe I’m whistling by the graveyard, but the juvenile sharks I’ve read about – and now seen – don’t seem big enough to pose a real threat to people. The shark we saw was about as wide as my thigh. Nonetheless, as my feet dangled in the water for the rest of the session, I couldn’t help but think that my toes might be tempting to our new friend.

After we got out, Geoff reported the sighting to a nearby lifeguard. I didn’t expect him to close the beach, but he seemed a bit blasé. He and his colleagues had been hearing similar stories for the past two weeks and now believe there are two juveniles patrolling the waters near the jetty. My co-workers were more excited to hear about my encounter, but Peter in our office planted some seeds of doubt by wondering if maybe we had seen a salmon shark instead of a great white. Hey, the two species do look alike, but at the end of the day, a shark’s a shark.

Geoff’s been doing too much reading since our encounter, and now says he won’t get back in the water in Manhattan Beach without a group. He even suggested we abandon our usual spot for a while and head up to County Line the next few weekends. But aggro teenagers aside, who knows what dangers lurk up there?

It’s a blessing to recreate in an ocean teeming with life. This summer, pods of dolphins have been commonplace in Southern California and the once-threatened brown pelicans are out in force. Enormous squid runs have come early and, in a highly unusual phenomenon, giant manta rays play off the coast near Dana Point.

However, great whites face tremendous pressure, despite the recent sightings. Some researchers estimate that there may only be a few hundred adult great whites in the Northeastern Pacific, from the Bering Sea to Baja. Pollution, incidental catch by net trawlers and other stressors may be limiting populations of a critical apex predator. The California Fish and Wildlife Department is now evaluating whether the white shark merits listing under the State Endangered Species Act. Given the importance of Santa Monica Bay to these animals, Heal the Bay’s science and policy team is following the process closely.

Before summer ends, get in the water. You’d be amazed at what you might find.

— Matt King
Heal the Bay Communications Director

Keep California shark protections intact. Sign our petition.

Got a favorite sea animal? Vote in our Santa Monica Pier Aquarium poll!


The author, safely on shore



We’ve got some big news at Heal the Bay! After an extensive national search, we’re proud to announce that beginning Sept. 16, Ruskin Hartley will be Heal the Bay’s new CEO. Conservationists may recognize Ruskin’s name from his prolific work protecting California redwoods, but for those who don’t, here are the top ten things you need to know about the veteran environmentalist. 

1. Ruskin worked at the Save the Redwoods League in San Francisco for 15 years, six of those years as the Executive Director. In its nearly 100 year history, The League helped protect over 180,000 acres of redwood forest and create over 39 redwood state parks and preserves.

2. Ruskin was born and raised in rural southern England by an architect and urban planner and trained as a geographer at Cambridge University. 

3. He was asleep in Kuwait City when Iraq invaded Kuwait leading up to the Gulf War. Subsequently, he spent two years in Kuwait as an environmental planner working on the country’s third post-war reconstruction plan.

4. He’s seen every episode of Battlestar Galactica

5. Clean and healthy water has always been part of Ruskin’s mission. He spent a summer in Oman researching traditional irrigation systems and groundwater recharge. He also studied rural development at the University of East Anglia (that’s in the UK!). 

6. He’s a cricket fan and is learning to love baseball. 

7. He helped add the 25,000-acres Mill Creek property to the Redwood National and State Parks, the largest acquisition in Save the Redwood League’s history.

8. He learned to skateboard for the first time as an adult this year. He rode a longboard while his older son skated on a “trixie.” 

9. He’s tall. And don’t forget that British accent. 

10. Finally, he likes to tweet. A lot. Follow him at @ruskinhartley.

You can meet Ruskin while on the beach this Coastal Cleanup Day on September 21, 2013. For more information on Ruskin, read our full press release, visit his website or watch the video below where Ruskin describes his involvement with the Save the Redwoods League.



Heal the Bay has received many questions from concerned residents in Southern California about potential health and environmental impacts along the California coast that may result from the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster in Japan. Here is our perspective about possible radiation dangers, gleaned by consulting the scientific community:

What is the source of potential radiation?

On March 11, 2011, a massive 9.0 earthquake off the coast of Japan triggered a series of tsunami waves that crippled the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant located in Okuma, Fukushima. The emergency generators designed to cool the six onsite reactors and prevent nuclear meltdown were severely damaged during the disaster.

For the past two and a half years, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) has been trying to cool the three reactors impacted by the tsunami. Japanese workers are constantly flushing the failing reactors with water and storing this now radioactive water onsite. Many of these onsite storage tanks have documented leaks; Tepco officials reported this month that as much as 300 metric tons of radioactive water is reaching Japanese waters through surface and subsurface flows on a daily basis. In addition to storage tank problems, groundwater contamination from building damage is predicted to reach the Pacific in the near future. The Japanese government has recently taken control of the cleanup, with a promise to stop groundwater from seeping into contaminated plants by sealing it off via a miles-long subterranean wall.

What are the concerns of some California residents?

Media reports have some people worried that a giant plume of radiated water will soon make its way to the California shoreline, exposing swimmers to radioactive water. Others are nervous that local diners might become contaminated by consuming imported fish caught off the Japanese coast. Some wonder if migratory predator fish will make their way from polluted waters in Japan and be caught in local waters, eventually winding up in the regional food supply chain.

Are those fears founded? Is it safe to swim in Southern California?

In terms of human health, the latest academic findings suggest that swimmers off the West Coast of North America face no radiation risks by entering the water. Radioactive concentrations harmful to humans quickly drop below World Health Organizations safety levels as soon as they leave Japanese waters, according to Dr. Erik Van Sebille, a physical oceanographer at the University of New South Wales. Open ocean currents, due to their strength and size, will dilute radioactive concentrations within four months of their release from Japan. Sebille and colleagues also conclude that It is estimated that radioactive material will take three years to travel from Japan to coastal areas along the eastern Pacific (United States, Canada, Mexico).

The bottom line, according to researchers: It is currently safe to swim along our local beaches. Experts also believe that beachgoers will not need to worry about radioactive contamination from the disaster in the future, due to dispersion currents in the open ocean.

Are fish that I get at the store or a local restaurant safe to eat?

It is important to understand the origin of the fish you consume. Much of the fishing that took place in and around Fukushima has stopped since the disaster. Even so, a recent study from the Woods Hole Institute found that the majority of marine species found in and around the Fukushima area do not contain radiation concentrations harmful for human consumption. But avoiding fish species caught in Japanese waters may be a good idea for those that have heightened concerns. We suggest that if you are worried about eating fish with elevated radioactivity, you should avoid fish coming from Japan. Fish caught off our local coastal waters as well as our northern and southern borders are safe to eat. Open ocean currents disperse radiation throughout the Pacific and will not impact local, non-migratory fish stocks. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently screening all imported goods from Japan for radiation and does not anticipate any public health effect on seafood safety.

Are fish species found in the Pacific Ocean now radioactive?

At the moment, it is difficult to make scientific conclusions about the radioactivity of fish in the Pacific. Large predatory species, such as Bluefin Tuna, and bottom-dwelling species can bioaccumulate contaminants more readily and may be more prone to having higher concentrations of radiation in their bodies when compared to other species. Also, fish species may test positive for radiation from sources other than Fukushima (e.g. nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s). Additionally, the Woods Hole study found that radioactive contamination levels have not declined in fish following the initial radiation release at Fukushima, suggesting radiation is still present near the disaster site.

Is it safe to pick up trash found on the beach? Could this trash have washed up from the Japanese tsunami?

Yes, trash on the beach is safe, according to federal officials. According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the relatively few items of debris originating from the tsunami found on shorelines along the U.S. West Coast have been tested for radiation, and no contamination was found. Heal the Bay is involved with NOAA’s Marine Debris Monitoring Program, where we monitor areas in Southern California for marine debris accumulation along our coast, as well as scout for debris that may be from the Fukushima disaster. Since we began the program in 2012, we have not found any debris on our local beaches originating from the disaster. If you believe that marine debris has washed up on one of our local beaches from the Fukushima event, proceed with caution and contact DisasterDebris@noaa.gov. NOAA states that marine debris from the tsunami is unlikely to hold harmful levels of radiation and should not be of public concern.

Who is monitoring for radiation issues associated with the Fukushima disaster in the U.S.?

Three major federal agencies are currently monitoring the radiation from the Fukushima disaster: NOAA, the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency. NOAA monitors marine debris and atmospheric dispersion of radioactive particles; the FDA tracks Japanese imports to insure food safety; while the EPA monitors air and water for radiation that is harmful to human health.

How can I stay updated on the latest developments?

Heal the Bay is keeping up to date on the most recent news and scientific studies on the Fukushima disaster in order to inform the public and best protect our coastal waters. We will provide updates on our website and social media channels (Facebook and Twitter) on the issue as more information becomes available.

Read Heal the Bay’s recommendations on how to stay healthy while swimming or fishing in Santa Monica Bay.

Japanese tsunami marine debris beach survey noaa radiation nuclear fukushima

Heal the Bay staff monitoring for tsunami debris along our local beaches.



Welcome to the Rosh Hashanah edition of Heal the Bay’s “Thank You Thursday.” The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to take a moment to reflect on what we’re truly thankful for.

Overall, we are grateful to live in such a beautiful place, where the wonders of the beach or mountains are within easy reach.

We are also grateful to the nearly 30 individuals and 13 teams who’ve “friendraised” to fund our Coastal Cleanup Day efforts on September 21. Great going! We thank you for helping to spread the word about the “biggest volunteer day” on the planet. (It’s not too late to start your own CCD friendraising page!)

A huge gracías to La Sandía at the Santa Monica Place for hosting our wonderful volunteers at our booster night and for providing their tasty tacos! Booster nights provide Heal the Bay staff the opportunity to update our top volunteers and ambassadors (such as our Aquarium volunteers, speakers, beach cleanup captains and members of our MPA Watch program) on our upcoming campaigns. This month, we focused on Coastal Cleanup Day and on updating folks about the impacts of opening Hermosa Beach to oil drilling, as proposed by oil company E&B Natural Resources.

And, we thank employees from Chatsworth-based insurance brokerage firm AmWINS, who’ve made it an annual tradition to join us for a summer beach cleanup. This year, they came out to Topanga in August, enjoying a beautiful beach day, while helping to rid that beach of marine-bound debris.

To anyone who’s celebrating Rosh Hashanah, we wish you and your family a sweet, happy and healthy new year!

If you haven’t already, sign up to volunteer on Coastal Cleanup Day, held this year on Saturday, September 21. Find a location near you.

Interested in protecting your environment? Find your own ideal way to get involved.





As of this week, Gabrielle Harradine has raised $270 — $70 over her goal — to “help fund the fight” against pollution on Coastal Cleanup Day. Here she details why she’s “friendraising” for Heal the Bay and what she hopes to find on Coastal Cleanup Day.

This coming Coastal Cleanup Day on September 21 will be the first one since we started a family together. We’d done two cleanups with Heal the Bay before we had children. At the earlier cleanups, I remember finding a lot of cigarette butts; followed by small bits of plastic.

Now that my daughter is old enough to be able to really participate and understand what we are doing, I am looking forward to seeing her enthusiasm. She learned about trash in the oceans at Heal the Bay’s Aquarium in Santa Monica, so Coastal Cleanup Day will be a good follow up. 

The response to our fundraising has been exciting and much better than I expected! (Although we do have lots of beach loving friends and family.) A lot of people want to help; it’s just a matter of putting it in front of them so they can respond.

On September 21, I expect to find a group of like-minded people slugging through the sand for any bits of trash. Hopefully, we’ll get to see some thankful breaching dolphins from the shore!

— Gabrielle Harradine

What will YOU find on Coastal Cleanup Day?

Join the biggest volunteer action on the planet, Coastal Cleanup Day, on Saturday, September 21, 2013 from 9 a.m. to noon. Share your personal cleanup discoveries using Twitter, Facebook or Instagram with the hashtag #whatwillyoufind. Past volunteers have found love and a hundred dollar bill!

Anyone can create a fundraising page to support the effort to protect our local natural resources. Volunteers who raise $100 or more receive a Heal the Bay T-shirt.


Gabrielle Harradine sails the Bay.



When I started working as Heal the Bay’s Coastal Cleanup Day Manager in 2007, I had no idea that I would end up finding the love of my life. That year, Heal the Bay worked with Councilmember Tony Cardenas’ office on the Northeast San Fernando Valley cleanup sites. I initially started off on the wrong foot with the cleanup captain, Olga. She tried to tell me how to run a cleanup site, but I was certain I knew how to do it better. Olga was concerned with breaking trash-collecting records while I wanted to ensure the best educational and efficient experience for volunteers. A year later, after a very successful cleanup, we started a friendship that led to love. We still laugh about which one of us knows how to do the job better, but I admit that her sites almost always break cleanup records.  So this past week, right before Coastal Cleanup Day, I married her. What will you find at Coastal Cleanup Day? I found love and I couldn’t be happier.

— Eveline Bravo-Ayala,
Heal the Bay’s Beach Program Manager

Join the biggest volunteer day on the planet, Coastal Cleanup Day, on Saturday, September 21, 2013 from 9 a.m. to noon. Tweet, Facebook or Instagram us with the hashtag #whatwillyoufind to share your unique Coastal Cleanup Day discoveries!


Eveline Bravo, middle, with wife Olga Ayala and Congressmember Tony Cardenas.



Heal the Bay is so proud of our board member Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and we can’t wait for her new film “Enough Said” — and now you don’t have to wait either! 

You have the chance to bid on a prize package that includes a meet-and-greet with Julia as well as four tickets to the New York premiere of “Enough Said” on Sept. 16 including after-party access! Bid on the prize, estimated at $7,500, by Thurs., September 12. 

About “Enough Said”: A divorced and single parent, Eva (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) spends her days enjoying work as a masseuse but dreading her daughter’s impending departure for college. She meets Albert (James Gandolfini) – a sweet, funny and like-minded man also facing an empty nest. As their romance quickly blossoms, Eva befriends Marianne (Catherine Keener), her new massage client. Marianne is a beautiful poet who seems “almost perfect” except for one prominent quality: she rags on her ex-husband way too much. Suddenly, Eva finds herself doubting her own relationship with Albert as she learns the truth about Marianne’s Ex. Enough Said is a sharp, insightful comedy that humorously explores the mess that often comes with getting involved again.

Bid now!



Just in time for the last hurrah of summer, beachgoers on the West Coast can head to the shore this Labor Day secure that they’ll be swimming and playing in healthy water.  According to the 2013 End of Summer Beach Report Card®, beach water quality in California, Oregon and Washington was excellent for the fourth consecutive summer.

We collected water quality data at more than 640 monitoring locations along the West Coast between Memorial Day and Aug. 21, 2013. Then we assigned an A-to-F grade based on bacterial pollution levels. Nearly 96% of California beaches earned an A or B grade. Washington earned A or B grades at 91% of its beaches, and Oregon earned all A grades for the fourth consecutive year. 

To find out which beaches didn’t make the grade and how your county stacks up, consult our 2013 End of Summer Beach Report Card®:

Beachgoers can find out which beaches are safe, check recent water quality history and look up details on beach closures using our Beach Report Card. On the go? Download a free Beach Report Card mobile app for iPhone or Android.