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Category Archives: Beaches

Beaches dog fight: northern Illawarra residents form pack

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Sept. 7, 2014, 10 p.m.

Limits on off-leash beaches raise ire

Dog owners playing on the off-leash area at Sharkeys Beach. Picture: SYLVIA LIBER

Northern Illawarra dog owners are joining forces and preparing to fight for their off-leash beaches in the face of controversial changes to Wollongong City Council's dogs on beaches policy.

A Facebook page dedicated to the cause has attracted more than 2200 likes, while the Wollongong Dog Community group has gathered 250 email subscribers in less than two weeks.

The community action group, which held its first meeting in Thirroul on Saturday, plans to raise a number of concerns at a meeting with councillors in coming weeks.

Under planned changes to its dogs on beaches and parks policy, the council has recommended dogs only be allowed on Sharkeys, McCauleys and Little Austinmer beaches at restricted times, provided they are on a leash.

Solution wanted: Wollongong Dog Community meets at Thirroul library to discuss proposed changes to the council's policy for dogs on beaches. Picture: CHRISTOPHER CHAN

Of a weekend, northern suburbs dog owners would be forced to drive to Bellambi beach - up to an 80-minute round trip for some residents - to let their dogs run off-leash.

Committee member David Hurley described the proposed changes as "radical" and said owners were struggling to understand why they were put forward.

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Beaches dog fight: northern Illawarra residents form pack

Perth beaches reopen after sighting of 3.5-metre shark on first day of aerial patrols

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ABC Aerial surveillance of Perth beaches has started for the summer season.

Two Perth beaches have been reopened after the first shark sighting of the season, a 3.5-metre white shark 50 metres off Floreat beach.

Surf Life Saving WA said the shark was tracking south, and that Floreat Beach and City Beach were closed as a precaution.

The sighting comes as weekend helicopter patrols begin along the Perth coast for the summer season.

The Surf Life Saving helicopter will fly between Dawesville and Two Rocks looking for swimmers in trouble, and for sharks close to shore.

SLSWA's manager of aviation services Peter Scott said it is a busy time of the year for shark sightings, with a lot of whales and other marine animals in the area.

"We can provide some assurance and also we use the aircraft to verify sightings from the public as well, so we can try and identify if there is actually a shark there," he said.

"But essentially it does provide that extra layer of comfort for everyone."

WA Premier Colin Barnett said the patrols would increase to seven days a week from October 1.

"SLSWA plays a crucial role in protecting Western Australian beaches and it is vitally important to have the aerial patrols in place in time for the warmer weather," Mr Barnett said.

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Perth beaches reopen after sighting of 3.5-metre shark on first day of aerial patrols

Hurricane Norbert bringing high surf to SD beaches

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SAN DIEGO (CNS) - The National Weather Service issued a flood advisory for San Diego's East County and North County Saturday as rain and thunderstorms soaked the mountains and deserts.

The urban and small stream flood advisory was issued at 1:53 p.m. Saturday for East County mountain and desert communities and was to be in effect until 5 p.m. Saturday. The NWS said brief, heavy rain in the mountains Saturday caused ponds of water and shallow streams of water flowing across roadways.

The CHP reported moderate to heavy rain on State Route 76 near East Grade Road in Santa Ysabel near Lake Henshaw.

The NWS said the heaviest storms about 2 p.m. were in Campo and near Lake Morena along State Route 94. The agency announced about 2:30 p.m. the storms in those areas had weakened, but storms in the areas near Pine Valley and Laguna Summit near Interstate 8 had strengthened, as had the storm in Santa Ysabel.

The NWS said the storms are being caused by Hurricane Norbert, a Category 3 hurricane off the Pacific coast of Baja California Sur that was expected to send a 4-6 foot swell to county beaches Sunday. Deep tropical moisture being drawn northward around the storm was causing the rain and thunderstorms.

San Diego County mountains and deserts were expected be under a flash flood watch from early Sunday morning through Monday evening.

The NWS also issued abeach hazard warning, and said the elevated surf and large tidal swings would result in strong and dangerous rip and long shore currents at county beaches through late Monday.

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Hurricane Norbert bringing high surf to SD beaches

Slow nesting season for sea turtles

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SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) After four busy nesting years on beaches from Georgia to the Carolinas, loggerhead sea turtles this summer laid their eggs at a much pokier pace.

The sluggish nesting season for the giant sea turtles wrapped up over the Labor Day weekend. And preliminary numbers show volunteers in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina counted far fewer loggerhead nests in 2014 than in recent years.

For Georgia, the slow season snapped a four-year streak of record-breaking turtle nest totals. Final numbers won't be ready until October, but a preliminary count shows 1,191 nests were counted along the 100-mile Georgia coast from May through August. That's the slowest nesting season since 2009, and barely more than half of last year's nest count of 2,289 the most ever recorded in Georgia.

The numbers have taken a dive two years after Georgia wildlife officials declared that steady increases in loggerhead nesting since 2010 showed strong evidence that the threatened species was rebounding. Sea turtle conservationists in the neighboring Carolinas also saw a 2014 nesting slump after a few years of a hatchling boom.

Loggerhead sea turtles, which weigh up to 300 pounds, remain a fragile population that's been protected as a threatened species under federal law for 35 years. Sea turtle experts say they're not surprised, and certainly not alarmed, to see dramatically lower nest counts this summer. Adult female loggerheads don't lay eggs every year, and some take two or three years off after nesting.

"The overall trend is still a statistically increasing trend, so this year doesn't change the fact that we feel like we're in a recovery period," said Mark Dodd, the wildlife biologist who heads the sea turtle recovery program for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. "It would take two or three more low years before we start to say we don't have an increasing trend anymore."

While low compared to recent years, the 2014 nest count in Georgia falls just a hair shy of the state's 25-year average of 1,200 nests annually. Dodd said he saw nothing this year that would explain fewer nests other than natural fluctuations. He said the number of dead, sick and injured loggerheads found on Georgia beaches this summer was 108, down from 165 a year ago.

Each summer, loggerhead sea turtles off the southeastern U.S. coast crawl from the water onto beaches from North Carolina to Florida to dig holes in the sand and lay their eggs.

Sea turtle researchers say two conservation efforts dating back to the 1970s are likely responsible for any rebound in loggerhead populations. Turtle nests discovered on beaches by government biologists and volunteers get covered with a mesh that protects the eggs inside from hogs, raccoons and other predators. Also, shrimp boats in U.S. waters have been required since 1987 to use nets equipped with trapdoors so sea turtles can escape.

In Georgia, loggerhead sea turtles averaged 1,036 nests annually from 1989 to 2009, a period when up-and-down nest counts indicated recovery was flat. In 2010 loggerhead nests in Georgia hit a record of 1,760, and the number increased each year through 2013.

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Slow nesting season for sea turtles

Perth beaches re-open after sighting of 3.5-metre shark on first day of aerial patrols

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ABC Aerial surveillance of Perth beaches has started for the summer season.

Two Perth beaches have been re-opened after the first shark sighting of the season, a 3.5-metre white shark 50 metres off Floreat beach.

Surf Life Saving WA said the shark was tracking south, and that Floreat Beach and City Beach were closed as a precaution.

The sighting comes as weekend helicopter patrols begin along the Perth coast for the summer season.

The Surf Life Saving helicopter will fly between Dawesville and Two Rocks looking for swimmers in trouble, and for sharks close to shore.

SLSWA's manager of aviation services Peter Scott said it is a busy time of the year for shark sightings, with a lot of whales and other marine animals in the area.

"We can provide some assurance and also we use the aircraft to verify sightings from the public as well, so we can try and identify if there is actually a shark there," he said.

"But essentially it does provide that extra layer of comfort for everyone."

WA Premier Colin Barnett said the patrols would increase to seven days a week from October 1.

"SLSWA plays a crucial role in protecting Western Australian beaches and it is vitally important to have the aerial patrols in place in time for the warmer weather," Mr Barnett said.

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Perth beaches re-open after sighting of 3.5-metre shark on first day of aerial patrols

Weird Jellyfish-Like Creatures Invade West Coast Beaches

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The strange blue creatures swarming West Coach beaches this summer simply go wherever the wind takes them.

Droves of Velella velella -- also known as "by-the-wind sailors" -- have been washing ashore in droves this summer along the West Coast.

Mystery of Death Valley's 'Sailing Stones' Solved

Researchers Discover Fossils of Largest Dino Believed to Ever Walk the Earth

Fish Mysteriously Show Up Dead, Causing a Stink

Watch: Dinosaur Mummy Discovery

The marine animals, which float on the surface of the Pacific Ocean, have a small sail and oval shaped bodies about the size of a palm of a hand -- leaving them at the mercy of the wind and ocean currents.

Steve Lonhart/NOAA MBNMS

PHOTO: A few Velella velella, also known as by-the-wind-sailors, were seen on Pescadero State Beach, Calif. on May, 14 2003.

Once they reach land, the blue, translucent velella die and decompose into cellophane-like corpses, according to National Geographic.

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Weird Jellyfish-Like Creatures Invade West Coast Beaches

Sighting of 3.5-metre shark closes Floreat and City beaches in Perth

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ABC Aerial surveillance of Perth beaches has started for the summer season.

Two Perth beaches have been re-opened after the first shark sighting of the season, a 3.5-metre white shark 50 metres off Floreat beach.

Surf Life Saving WA said the shark was tracking south, and that Floreat Beach and City Beach were closed as a precaution.

The sighting comes as weekend helicopter patrols begin along the Perth coast for the summer season.

The Surf Life Saving helicopter will fly between Dawesville and Two Rocks looking for swimmers in trouble, and for sharks close to shore.

SLSWA's manager of aviation services Peter Scott said it is a busy time of the year for shark sightings, with a lot of whales and other marine animals in the area.

"We can provide some assurance and also we use the aircraft to verify sightings from the public as well, so we can try and identify if there is actually a shark there," he said.

"But essentially it does provide that extra layer of comfort for everyone."

WA Premier Colin Barnett said the patrols would increase to seven days a week from October 1.

"SLSWA plays a crucial role in protecting Western Australian beaches and it is vitally important to have the aerial patrols in place in time for the warmer weather," Mr Barnett said.

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Sighting of 3.5-metre shark closes Floreat and City beaches in Perth

We know San Diego has world-renowned beaches. But life sciences? Tell us more. – Video

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We know San Diego has world-renowned beaches. But life sciences? Tell us more.
Eric Topol, M.D., director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute, and Pieter van Rooyen, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Edico Genome (http://www.edicogenome.com), discuss the advantages...

By: Edico Genome

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We know San Diego has world-renowned beaches. But life sciences? Tell us more. - Video

Lifeguard call for high risk hotspots

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Picture: Casey McHale Smiths Beach, Yallingup

Two Capes beaches have been revealed as hotspots for lifeguard rescues.

Surf Life Saving WA statistics show 153 people were rescued at Yallingup beach last summer, the second highest number of rescues in the State.

Smiths Beach also made the top ten beaches for rescues, with 40 people being pulled from the water.

The high rescue numbers come despite Yallingup and Smiths Beach clocking up some of the lowest patrol hours in WA. The beaches are not patrolled by volunteer surf life savers and the City of Busselton funds two professional lifeguards from late December to early February only.

Nine deaths have been recorded in the South West in the past decade, one third of those at Smiths Beach.

Surf Life Saving WA community safety manager Chris Peck said Yallingup and Smiths Beach were extremely popular surf beaches with inherent hazards and risks.

With the combination of warm weather, surf, rips and high beach usage, it is foreseeable that a number of rescues occur, he said.

Yallingup particularly is a high risk beach in regards to its large shore dump, flash rips and large surf.

Mr Peck said most rescues were caused by people getting caught in rips and not seeking advice or following advice of life guards. He urged beachgoers to read safety signs, swim between the flags, ask lifeguards for advice, swim with a friend, and if in difficulty, call for assistance by raising your hand.

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Lifeguard call for high risk hotspots

Mariupol Mayor Quotes Churchill: Ukrainians will ‘fight on the beaches’ against Russian invasion – Video

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Mariupol Mayor Quotes Churchill: Ukrainians will #39;fight on the beaches #39; against Russian invasion
It #39;s a city that will fight to the end against Russian agression. Those words come from the mayor of Mariupol, as a Russian armored column sits just 20 kilom...

By: UKRAINE TODAY

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Mariupol Mayor Quotes Churchill: Ukrainians will 'fight on the beaches' against Russian invasion - Video


  1. Beaches