Did you know that we have orcas, or killer whales, in our Bay?
A pod of orcas was spotted last weekend outside of King Harbor hunting dolphin. Onlookers believed that a set of parents was teaching a calf to hunt.
Orcas are spotted off our coast very occasionally. This year, blue whales were also seen in large numbers near Redondo Beach.
Check out the orca photos in the Easy Reader.
Photo: Sheryll Nebrida via the Easy Reader
Long Beach / AvalonMalibu / Pacific PalisadesMarina del Rey / Playa del ReyPalos Verdes PeninsulaSanta MonicaSouth BayVenice Beach
That is, if Ethan Gauthier is any indication. The Sierra Madre teenager just won first prize in his school’s science fair for a project he called Runaway Runoff.
Basically, he took 4 samples of garden soil and added inorganic fertilizers to 3 of them. Then he added water, and measured the amount of nitrates and phosphates coming off of each sample.
The project is a brilliantly simple way to illustrate the impacts gardeners can have on the ocean. When inorganic fertilizers are added to gardens, those same phosphates and nitrates run off your yard, into the stormdrain system, and into the ocean.
Nitrates and phosphates are a huge source of harmful algal blooms in freshwater bodies like Malibu Creek. They contribute to dead zones by encouraging the overgrowth of algae. That algae blocks sunlight, inhibiting the growth of other plants and animals. And when it dies and decomposes, it sucks up all of the oxygen in the water.
Ethan’s answer? It’s even more simple. Follow the directions on your fertilizer packages, and don’t over-fertilize. Heal the Bay will take that one step further and suggest you use organic fertilizers, like compost, rather than chemical-based fertilizers.
Read more about Ethan’s project at Sierra Madre Patch.
If you’re interested in volunteering at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, make sure to get your Volunteer Application in by Monday, Feb 7. Training begins March 1.
Inspiring others to appreciate the amazing creatures that live in the Santa Monica Bay is what being a volunteer at the Aquarium is all about. Whether you work with students attending a marine biology field trip, or talk with visitors from around the world during our public hours, volunteering at the Aquarium is an opportunity to educate about the importance of being stewards of the marine environment.
The Aquarium’s next quarterly volunteer training session – a mandatory six-part course that equips volunteers with the knowledge needed to inform and educate about the habitats and the inhabitants of the Santa Monica Bay – begins March 1st.
Whether you’re in high school, a retiree, or somewhere in between, as a volunteer you will be joining a dynamic, diverse group of individuals from all walks of life. All our volunteers share a passion for the ocean – and love to share what they know about the ocean with Aquarium visitors.
Learn more about volunteering at the aquarium and fill out a Volunteer Application today.
About UsLong Beach / AvalonMalibu / Pacific PalisadesMarina del Rey / Playa del ReyPalos Verdes PeninsulaSanta MonicaSouth BayVenice Beach
The City of Calabasas joined the rapidly growing group of cities and municipalities fighting against plastic bag litter by enacting a ban on single-use plastic bags on February 2, 2011.
Like the recent bans in Santa Monica, and LA County, the ban will prohibit supermarkets, large pharmacies and convenience food marts from distributing plastic bags. Paper bags can be sold for 10¢ each, as long as they are made of at least 40% recycled material.
As in other bans, exceptions are made for restaurants selling take-out food and drink.
The rising tide of cities that are enacting their own bans against plastic bags gives all of us in the environmental community hope. Every day we hear of new cities, countries and counties around the world banning plastic bags.
While the fight is far from over, Calabasas’ brave decision last night brings us one step closer to a world free from plastic bags.
Read more about the decision at kpcc.org.
About UsLong Beach / AvalonMalibu / Pacific PalisadesMarina del Rey / Playa del ReyPalos Verdes PeninsulaSanta MonicaSouth BayVenice Beach
Check out this link to Van Jones’ talk on the increasing impacts that plastic has on poor communities. Jones is an environmental advocate and attorney who spent the early part of his career fighting for equal rights for people of color, particularly African Americans.
In 2007 he founded an organization called Green for All, dedicated to building an environmentally friendly economy that would lift people out of poverty. He also briefly served in President Obama’s White House Council on Environmental Quality.
In this clip, Jones describes how the production, use and disposal of plastics disproportionately harms poor people. Poverty in and of itself limits choices, making it difficult for people who are poor to purchase “safe” plastics, and making them more vulnerable to unsafe practices in jobs manufacturing plastics.
Mark Gold attended the TED conference at which Jones gave this speech, and you can read more about his impressions in the Spouting Off blog.
Watch Van Jones’ inspiring, and quite thoughtful, speech at ted.com.
About UsLong Beach / AvalonMalibu / Pacific PalisadesMarina del Rey / Playa del ReyMarine Protected AreasPalos Verdes PeninsulaSanta MonicaSouth BayVenice Beach
If you’ve been following the news about Marine Protected Areas, you might know that a map of these critical portions of protected habitat was recently approved for Southern California. This means that once the MPAs go into effect in mid-2011, fishing will be restricted or prohibited in specific areas along the coastline.
If you’re interested in finding out more about our new set of MPAs, you can check out an interactive map that shows where the MPAs are and details about the regulations.
Once you get to the map, click on “MPAs, Arrays, and Proposals” in the upper right hand corner. Check the “Adopted MLPA South Coast MPAs” box. Then zoom in and click on specific MPAs to learn more about the regulations and details for each site. You can access the maps at marinemap.org.
About UsLong Beach / AvalonMalibu / Pacific PalisadesMarina del Rey / Playa del ReyPalos Verdes PeninsulaSanta MonicaSouth BayVenice Beach
On January 20, the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation will hold an informational meeting on the low impact development ordinance.
This landmark regulation will help cut down on the amount of polluted runoff that reaches our beaches by requiring new and redevelopment projects to capture rainwater on site, allowing it to filter into the ground and recharge local groundwater supplies. To learn about the ordinance, which was passed in Dec 2010, members of the public can attend the meeting.
For more information, visit lastormwater.org.
Join Heal the Bay for an upcoming film series event in Venice, entitled Sea Pulse.
The one-day event will cultivate ocean awareness through film and is presented by Macdonald Productions and our friends at Dance 4 Oceans (who you may remember as trash zombies from 2009’s A Day Without a Bag). Capt. Charles Moore of Algalita Marine Research Foundation will be a special guest.
Head on out to the Electric Lodge on Saturday, Jan. 22 to see films and performances presenting awe-inspiring beauty as well as the serious threats to the world’s oceans. You can check out the Heal the Bay viral video hit, “The Majestic Plastic Bag,” and who knows, maybe you’ll even see some trash zombies.
When: Saturday, January 22 from 1:00pm – 4:00pm
Where: Electric Lodge, 1416 Electric Avenue, Venice
Cost: $5-$10 suggested donation at the door (No one will be turned away for lack of funds.)
Long Beach / AvalonMalibu / Pacific PalisadesMarina del Rey / Playa del ReyPalos Verdes PeninsulaSanta MonicaSouth BayVenice Beach
It looks like the rain might finally be slowing down, but that just means the clean-up can begin. Among the downed trees and mudslides, there are also some ocean issues for you to keep in mind. This much rain carries huge amounts of bacteria and pollution straight through the stormdrain system to the beach, and can also cause sewage spills. Make sure you stay out of the ocean for a full 72 hours and avoid stormdrain impacted and enclosed beaches for 5 to 10 days after a storm, to give the bacteria time to disperse. You might even want to wait a little bit longer, given how much rain fell.
For up-to-date info, check out the Beach Report Card.
What a surprising way to end a two-year journey. As rain fell outside City Hall on Friday morning, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved the proposed Low Impact Development ordinance . . . on consent. For more than a year, the Building Industry Assn., the Central City Assn. and others provided numerous objections on the LID ordinance. As a result, staff included a number of changes to accommodate developer concerns.
The measure now includes a grandfather clause to exempt most proposed development in the city approval pipeline. Also, the “in lieu fee clause” option has been eliminated because it’s viewed as a fee rather than an alternative for developers to comply with the LID requirements. The proposed measure now includes a strict biofiltration option to be used if on-site LID approaches prove unfeasible.
With all of these changes and yet another pitch for greater exemptions for the LID regulations, the environmental community expected success at City Council, but not without a fight from the development community.
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Find out if your favorite watering hole is on the honor roll or flunking out.