Kelpscape

Ship Sewage

The Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary proposes to require large vessels -- of 300 tons or more -- not to dump sewage while passing through the sanctuary. The Sanctuary will accept comments through 30 May.

By a geographical coincidence, the primary shipping lanes from Asia to Los Angeles run through the Santa Barbara Channel; it's shorter than the path outside the islands. The shipping lanes transit the northeastern corner of the Sanctuary. About 7,000 vessels pass though each year. 

To me it seems like a good idea: keep sewage from ships out of the Sanctuary.  Sewage from ships is usually not treated much. The Channel is one water mass, inhabited by a lot of marine creatures; so even better would be to dump the sewage further from land, where it is more diluted; or even to treat it before dumping, even though that might increase the cost of shipping stuff from Asia.

California Can't Regulate Ship Exhaust

The US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that California can't regulate exhaust from ships -- even in Long Beach Harbor and San Francisco Bay -- because the EPA has that authority.  Not much of a surprise, since California needs permission from the EPA even to regulate emission from cars. Ships pass though the Santa Barbara Channel by the dozens each day.  International law governs these ships; involvement by the state is tricky.  Passing though the channel, rather than outside the islands, cuts a lot of miles off a voyage from Asia. And every mile burns up lots of oil.

A local furniture manufacturer told me that it costs about $8 to ship a futon frame to China and back, via one of these shipboard containers.  It's hard for local companies to compete with the lower costs of labor and looser environmental regulations over there.

Ship Strikes Killed Blue Whales

Biologists at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History presented results of necroscopies of blue whales that washed up on local beaches last fall: the whales were killed by ship strikes. They surmise that the whales were in shipping lanes because the krill was there, and that the whales probably didn't hear the ships approaching, because they were directly in front or because of background noise.

Last fall, after the blue whale deaths, ships deliberately slowed to 10 knots in the shipping lanes; that may have given whales more time to get out of the way.  We'll see where the krill shows up this year, and whether the ships slow down.

Marine Reserves are Working

Marine reserves at the Channel Islands are producing more and bigger fish, according to a scientific study reported at a special session of the Channel Islands Symposium.  The study used about 1700 fish counts from REEF.org volunteer divers. So far the results are for relatively rapidly-reproducing fish.  Over the next few years, longer-lived, slower-reproducing fish like rockfish should show some beneficial results as well.  It'll be interesting!

Platform Gina

Oil is the reason for the wars we wage. But, the oil found under the Santa Barbara Channel is heavy and rich in sulfur: it isn't profitable to turn it into gasoline or other light hydrocarbons. That may be part of the reason some propose to turn Platform Grace, sister platform to Gina and not far away, into a receiving port for natural gas from Australia. The gas would then be piped to the mainland, far from the risks of environmental catastrophes including disastrous explosion. It's a long haul from Australia.  Meanwhile the platforms generate electricity from the gas they do prouce: and light  themselves up at night.  There's money to be made.

MPAs for the Southern California Coast

Mike Chrisman, California's Secretary for Resources, has announced that the process to define Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) along the Southern California Coast will begin in early 2008.  This is a result of the Marine Life Protection Act, which mandated the creation of MPAs to protect the state's ocean life.

The process will apparently take the same form as those in the 2 previous regions: the Central Coast (now finalized) and the North Central Coast.  A science panel and a stakeholder panel will come up with maps defining areas with different levels of protection (No-Take, Lobsters Only, Recreational Fishing Only, etc). Those panels will report to a blue-ribbon commission, composed of high-level public figures, who will form a recommendation from the various alternatives they come up with.  They'll pass that recommendation on to the Fish & Game Commission, who will ultimately decide on the placement of these areas. 

The Fish & Game Commission will try to hear all voices, and consider all the points of view expressed. The Commission gets high marks for organizing the process in a structured way in the 2 previous regions.  It'll be interesting to see how things work out in the South!

An End to Elk on Santa Rosa

The House of Representatives set an end to the hunting of elk on Santa Rosa Island, in a footnote to a half-trillion dollar spending bill. Appropriately, the Los Angeles Times printed the story on its obituary page.

The number of non-native elk will be reduced by 25% of the present population, each year for 4 years.  This will put an end to the extremely profitable elk hunts there -- which were extremely popular among hunters wealthy enough to afford them. It will also reduce pressure on the small year-round pools of water on the island, and make life easier for the island plants and animals that have lived on Santa Rosa for tens of thousands -- instead of less than one hundred -- years.  And, it will open more of the island to more visitors, more of the time.