Coastal Factoid

Lessons in Surviving a Tsunami

"Expect Many Waves. The next wave may be bigger, and the tsunami may last for hours... Head for High Ground and Stay There. Move uphill or at least inland, away from the coast...Abandon Belongings. Save your life, not your possessions." - excerpt from the U.S. Geological Survey's web page on surviving tsunamis.

Rising Sea Levels Forcing Abandonment of Islands

"On one front-line of climate change, about 2,000 people on the Cantaret Islands off Papua New Guinea have decided to move to nearby Bougainville island after a losing battle with rising sea levels that have washed away homes and poisoned fresh water." - excerpt from the Environmental News Network article.

Origins of Coast Guard

"The United States coast guard traces its origin to the ten small armed boats authorized by the first congress on Aug. 4, 1790, to guard the nation's coast against smuggling from the sea and to enforce customs laws." - excerpt from Encyclopedia Brittanica, Volume 5, 1965, pg. 982.

Residents Will Pay to Reduce Polluted Runoff from Flowing to Our Beaches

The consultant Josh Williams of Godbe Research told the Encinitas, CA City Council last week that, "Nearly 63 percent of residents 'definitely' or 'probably' would support paying a $5 monthly fee to purify storm water in [Encinitas, CA]." - excerpt from the North County Times article.

It's Not Very Appealing to Put a Highway through a State Park

"I used to surf down there at San Onofre in the early 1950s," Eastwood said. "I don't find the idea of putting a highway through a state park very appealing." - excerpt from Clint Eastwood, appearing in the Los Angeles Times article, free registration required.

Federal Flood Insurance Promotes Coastal Development

"Until the government started selling flood insurance, it was almost impossible to insure coastal floodplain property against the inevitability of storm surge… But once the feds started offering insurance, real estate developers found mortgage bankers more than willing to lend them money, setting off a tsunami of new coastal construction." - excerpt by David Helvarg appearing in the Los Angeles Times article, free registration required.

Stay Far Away from the NOAA Ocean Buoys!

"Hydrogen Hazard. Potential Explosion Hazard Exists for this [ocean] Buoy. Explosive hydrogen gas can accumulate inside the hull of 3-meter-discus buoys... Please do not trespass, tamper with, or tie up to any NOAA data buoy." - excerpt from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration web page.

Dolphin Hunting in Japan

"Japanese fishermen kill the largest number of dolphins anywhere in the world and dolphins and porpoises face grave danger in Japan’s coastal waters when the annual hunt begins. This year the drive fishery, a method in which dolphins are forced ashore and hacked to death, has taken place in Taiji and Futo." - excerpt from the Earth Island Institute web page.

Benjamin Franklin, America's Famous Swimmer

"America's most famous swimmer of the time [late eighteenth century] was none other than Ben Franklin who excelled at swimming as he did at just about anything else. Franklin invented the first swim fins and even wrote a short essay on the possibility of water skiing, theorizing that a man attached by a rope to a large kite could be pulled across the water by wind power." - excerpt from the book, The Ocean Almanac, by Robert Hendrickson, Doubleday, 1984, pg. 359.

Too Much Sewage Dumping in Southern California's Offshore Waters

"Nearly a billion gallons of treated sewage are released into the Pacific Ocean every day through three underwater pipelines off Huntington Beach, Playa del Rey and Palos Verdes Peninsula." - excerpt from the ENN article.