by The Editors on August 31, 2009
The Shark Research Committee is reporting that on August 25, 2009 while swimming in the surf lineup at Terramar Bethany Edmund was bitten on the foot and leg leaving a bite pattern that they say is representative of a juvenile White Shark 5-6 feet in length.
“I was swimming in the surf line-up trying to take pictures with a new INTOVA 6.0 mega pixel underwater camera I purchased earlier in the day. I noticed a large, approximately 14 inches in length, Sea Bass jump in front of me. I tried to snap a picture with my camera. Two other swimmers were next to me and saw the same fish jump. About a minute after the fish, I felt a sharp pain in my right foot. Thinking I might have kicked the reef, I shrugged it off and continued taking photographs. About 30 seconds later I felt the same sharp pain and, this time, I began to swim away from the area. I thought I was over a reef and was kicking a sharp portion of it. About a minute later while I was swimming from the area I was hit on the upper right thigh and propelled about 1 foot out of the water. This is when I realized what was happening and began to body surf toward shore. The first wave I caught I felt something in the area of my calf pulling me back and down under water. I thought it might be one of the two swimmers near me, however when I surfaced they were about 10 feet from my location. I ignored what had just occurred and caught another wave to the beach. This time I felt the same sharp pain in my left calf, but this time I was dragged under water and shaken for 4 – 5 seconds. During this struggle I accidentally kicked the shark and it released me. The shark was about 6 feet in length with a dark blue/black top and a white belly. I then proceeded to stand up and run out of the water. When I exited the water there was no obvious blood, just swollen areas where I had been hit. The next day I notified James Bilz, Supervisor II Lifeguard, Carlsbad and Encinitas lifeguards Captain Larry Giles and Paul Chapman Lieutenant at Moonlight Headquarters .”
Sources with the Carlsbad lifeguards confirmed the bites. “Unless she stayed home and did a lot of work with an Exacto knife, then she was definitely hit by something,” our source said. “Exactly what that was, I don’t know. I’m not a biologist.”
[Editors Note: Special thanks to Carlsbadistan news tippers. We couldn’t do this without you.]
[Link: Shark Research Committee via Surfline.com]
by The Editors on August 24, 2009
According to a Michael Burge story in the San Diego Union-Tribune a 517-page report released last week on the call the rehabilitation efforts at Carlsbadistan’s Batiquitos Lagoon “a milestone project in environmental restoration.”
“Overall, the enhancement of Batiquitos Lagoon should be viewed as a huge success,” says the report by Merkel & Associates, a biological consulting firm in San Diego. . . “I think it’s been an incredible success,” said Ralph Appy, the director of environmental management for the Port of Los Angeles, which put up $57 million to restore the lagoon and maintain it as a swap for environmental damage at the port in San Pedro.
We can’t disagree. The trail along the Northern edge of the lagoon is one of our favorite places to escape hustle of Carlsbadistan and dive into the wilderness. And to think, we owe it all to an ecological disaster in San Pedro. If destroying LA means more habitat restoration for Carslbadistan, we’re all for it. . .
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
by The Editors on July 24, 2009
A new report by the Oakland, California-based Pacific institutes claims the best solution to California’s water problem is to simply curb waste in the Central Valley, according to a post on the Wall Street Journal’s Environmental Capital blog.
What’s interesting about the analysis is just how much the authors think a combination of irrigation technologies and management practices can save: 5.6 million acre-feet in an average year. That’s 17% of all water used by California farmers, and more than twice the total the state’s millions of city-dwellers could save if they wised up about their water use. It’s also a whole lot more than the enormous desalination plant in Carlsbad, Calif. will produce when it comes online.
See what they’re getting at here?
[Link: Environmental Capital]
by The Editors on July 21, 2009
Crews could start ripping up prime lagoon-front land for the Poseidon Resources desalination plant as soon as November, according to a story on KPBS.com.
The company that plans to build a desalination plant in Carlsbad has hired three people to oversee the project’s construction. Poseidon Resources hopes to break ground this fall. . . Poseidon Resources says the three new management employees have decades of expertise in water supply, engineering and project construction. . . Maloni says the company expects to start construction on the $300 million Carlsbad desalination plant in November. . . He says the plant could be operating in 2012.
Seems like we drink enough ocean water as it is. . . but then again, the developer is a thirsty beast and we want to be sure and keep him well hydrated so he can get back to building more houses when this whole economy thing turns around, right?
[Link: KPBS]
by The Editors on June 16, 2009
When Dean A. Goetz lost a few feet of his Terramar back yard he got worried enough to get the permits to build a $500,000 concrete wall to “protect beach goers,” according to a story in the North County Times. But at least one surfer didn’t like that.
. . . local surfer Dustin Rosa said the “true nature of their concern is protecting their backyards, not public safety.” . . Rosa contacted the San Diego County chapter of the Surfrider Foundation last week after construction of the wall began. . . . Todd Cardiff, an attorney with the Coast Law Group and an adviser to Surfrider, also rejected the safety argument. He noted that the main bluff collapse in the area occurred Dec. 19 and that the problem couldn’t have been that urgent if the fixes are just beginning now. . . .”We are going to do everything we can do to make them take that sea wall out,” Cardiff said. “This is one of the most cynical attempts to avoid the public process that I’ve seen in a long time.”
It will be interesting to see what happens on this one.
[Link: North County Times]
by The Editors on June 14, 2009
It’s summer in this desert we call Carlsbadistan and that means one thing: water conservation. Beginning July 1, 2009 the Carlsbad Municipal Water District’s new watering schedule goes into effect as part of the Level 2 Drought Alert.
For all the details on exactly what you can do with water this summer, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on June 14, 2009
The Carlsbad lagoon is a working lagoon and San Diego Union-Tribune writer Michael Burge checks in on one of the lesser known aspects of the aqua farming business: sea horse ranching.
“I call it a living reef,” said John Davis, Carlsbad Aquafarm’s owner. “You go out there, you come out of the water and you’re alive with things.” . . Behind the aquafarm’s gates on the lagoon’s south shore are tanks where the shellfish grow from larvae to mature adults. The 18 employees also cultivate micro-and macroalgae as food, and brine shrimp, the oats for the sea horses. . . .Davis, a tall, silver-haired former Navy and airline pilot, said he began raising the sea horses about five years ago.
Now, Davis sells sea horses to “Legoland’s Sea Life and Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and to wholesalers who sell them to private individuals.” Cowboy up!
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
by The Editors on May 18, 2009
The City of Carlsbadistan’s plans to replace 7,000 old high pressure sodium streetlights with new high-efficiency induction light may cut the City’s greehouse gas emissions from City ops by 20 percent, but according to a Michael Burge story in the San Diego Union-Tribune they could interfere with the stargazers at the Palomar Observatory.
“I don’t know what the new lighting fixtures will look like or how bright they are, but white lights are not friendly to research astronomers for a variety of reasons,” said Scott Kardel, public affairs coordinator for the observatory. . . Kardel said if the new streetlights aren’t too bright and don’t direct their beams skyward, they may not be as troublesome as the older streetlights. . . “Hopefully, they’ll be fully shielded,” Kardel added, saying he’ll look at some of the lights before Tuesday’s meeting.
More importantly, we’re hoping they won’t be shining in our windows and keeping us up all night. Follow the jump for the complete press release from the City.
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune] [click to continue…]
by The Editors on May 13, 2009
Most knew that it was only a formality, but this morning the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board met to vote on Poseidon Resources proposed desalination plant in Carlsbadistan’s Aqua Hedionda lagoon. And guess what? It was a unanimous approval according to a Michael Burge story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The ruling clears the way for Poseidon Resources to turn 50 million gallons of ocean water a day into drinking water on the grounds of the Encina Power Station at Agua Hedionda Lagoon. . . Peter MacLaggan, Poseidon’s senior vice president, said the decision means the company can begin building the $320 million plant, with the goal of providing water by early 2012. . . The water quality board has required Poseidon to create 55.4 acres of new wetlands in Southern California to provide a nursery for fish and other marine organisms that will be killed in the desalination plant’s processes.
And “progress” marches on.
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
by The Editors on May 12, 2009
It’s turning into a pretty bad week for proposed desalination plant builders Poseidon Resources.
First, the California Coastal Commission is “rethinking their permit” after Executive Director Peter Douglas noticed that “information Poseidon provided that panel was inconsistent with information it provided the commission last year,” and that these changes could result in a larger fish kill, according to a Michael Burge story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Then, experts quoted in a New York Times story claim that it will be very difficult if not impossible for Poseidon Resources to get financing for their Carlsbadistan project if stalled desal projects in Australia, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia are any indicator. While Poseidon says they could get financing in place in “six weeks.” Tom Pankratz, director of the International Desalination Association, said such a deal would fly in the face of an international trend of stalled projects.”
Pankratz noted that larger desalination projects in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Australia have been left flailing for financial partners at crucial junctures. He doubted Poseidon’s reality would be different. . . “Right now, financing is difficult for any large project, and desalination plants are no exception,” Pankratz said. “For them to say six weeks in this financial climate, that sounds optimistic to me.”
The project goes up for a vote at the San Diego Regional water board “at 9 a.m. Wednesday at 9174 Sky Park Ct. in San Diego,” according to the North County Times.
[Links: San Diego Union-Tribune and The New York Times and North County TImes]
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