SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A $28.5 million project to replenish sand on eight San Diego County beaches got underway Saturday in Imperial Beach, according to the San Diego Association of Governments.

Between September and December, more than 1.4 million cubic yards of sand will be dredged to restore eroded beaches in Imperial Beach, Solana Beach, Encinitas, Carlsbad and Oceanside, SANDAG officials said.

"People from around the world come to San Diego County to enjoy our world-class surf and beaches, so it's important we restore eroded beaches by periodically replenishing them with additional sand," said Jerome Stocks, SANDAG chair and Encinitas mayor. "Sand replenishment also benefits shorebirds by providing them with an additional sandy beach habitat; and it helps support our local economy, as well as protect public and private infrastructure from high tides and storm damage."

County beaches have steadily eroded over the past decades and sand no longer flows downstream due to development, water supply and flood control projects, and modifications to the coastline, according to SANDAG.

The beaches will be replenished in 500-foot segments, which will not be publicly accessible as sand-laden water is pumped in. The closures will shift along the fill site until each beach is completed.

The sand will be dredged from designated offshore areas within a mile of the shoreline that have sand similar to that on the beaches or is slightly coarser, SANDAG said.

The cities of Carlsbad, Encinitas, Imperial Beach, Oceanside and Solana Beach are funding the project, along with the California Department of Boating and Waterways.

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Project underway to replenish sand on San Diego beaches

"Last weekend a member of the public contacted Cornwall Council about a small number of what MCS identified as Portuguese man o'war washed up at Portheras Cove.

"We then had reports of similar sightings as Summerleaze and Widemouth beaches. Our most recent reports were from Portheras yesterday.

"With the earlier standings in Ireland, these recent sightings could herald the arrival of more of the creatures as they get blown in from the Atlantic."

Until recent years their normal habitats were the seas of the Florida Keys, the Atlantic Coast, the Gulf of Mexico as well as the Caribbean and the Pacific.

The man owar earned its name because its airbag resembles the sail of a 16th century Portuguese warship.

The airbag is about 12 inches long and five inches wide, beneath it are blue tentacles which can be more than 30 feet long and deliver an agonising and potentially lethal sting.

"Because a stranded Portuguese Man of War looks a bit like a deflating purple balloon with blue ribbons attached, it may attract the curiosity of children, Dr Richardson added.

"If you are visiting a Cornish beach this weekend it is well worth making sure you know what these animals look like and that no one picks them up.

Rebecca Kirk, from Cornwall Council's public health and protection service, added: "A sting fmay lead to an allergic reaction. There can also be serious effects, including fever and shock.

"Anyone who thinks they have been stung should seek medical attention immediately or contact NHS direct.

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Surge in number of men o'war being washed up on beaches

OCEAN SPRINGS, MS (WLOX) -

We have a follow up on the court battle that has left Isaac damaged Jackson County beaches a mess.

They are languishing because of a recent court ruling granting two East Beach property owners in Ocean Springs ownership of their portion of that beach. It's a ruling state and local officials plan to appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court. And until Jackson County officials know the outcome of that appeal, they aren't cleaning the beaches.

The county has always maintained the beach, but not anymore, according to Supervisor John McKay.

"We as city and county officials will be held personally liable for expending tax dollars on private property and we can't take that chance," McKay explained. "I don't want to have to pay for the cleaning of the entire beach out of my pocket."

Buddy Gunn is one of the two East Beach property owners who won in court. He maintains the judge's ruling pertains to just the two properties in question, and nothing more. And he said his beach can be used by anyone.

"I have been here since 1989 and the beach has been wide open for everybody to use and enjoy all this time," Gunn said. "What we have done, because I knew that I was paying taxes to the water's edge, I have always cleaned up the property down there."

The city's mayor, Connie Moran, is caught in the middle, and just wants the beach cleaned. Having it declared a pubic health hazard could be the answer.

"It's rotting, it's stinking, it has rodents in it, people have seen snakes in this mess," Moran said. "Then the city can come in after getting a right of entry from the beachfront property owners and we can clean it up."

Meanwhile, private citizens concerned about the looks of Front Beach, concerned about this doorway into the city, have decided to take matters into their own hands by organizing their own clean-up.

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Who owns the beaches in Jackson County?

Stephen Sabotka said he's not surprised that CNN named Lake Michigan beaches the best in the nation.

The St. Clair man lounged on the Grand Haven State Park beach Thursday afternoon, reading a magazine with a cold drink by his side.

We love the beaches over here, said Sabotka, who is camping at the state park. That's why we travel from Lake Huron to Lake Michigan. I love the view, love the sunsets and love the town of Grand Haven.

Sabotka said CNN made a good choice.

Lake Michigan has some of the best beaches in the U.S.," he said. "... We go to South Haven, here and all over. We've been coming to this side for years.

Joy Gaasch, president of the Chamber of Commerce Grand Haven-Spring Lake-Ferrysburg, said she's thrilled that the silky sands and stunning sunsets of Lake Michigan shoreline life were applauded by a national news organization.

When you think about who's in the competition in the United States, it's pretty awesome," she said. "When you think about beaches all the way up the shoreline Saugatuck, Ludington, Manistee, Sleeping Bear we're so blessed to have such wonderful natural resources available to us at a moment's notice.

The honor was part of CNN's 10 Best Lake Vacations rankings. Lake Superior won the best for fishing category.

The cable news network noted that with more than 1,600 miles of shoreline, Lake Michigan offers more beaches than any other lake in the country.

But it's not just quantity, according to CNN. There's a beach for nearly every taste.

Continued here:

Lake Mich. beaches: Best in the U.S.

Ontario Ministry of Environment

These fish are among the tens of thousands found dead on 25 miles of Lake Erie beaches in Canada's Ontario Province.

By Miguel Llanos, NBC News

Tens of thousands of dead fish that washed up on Lake Erie beaches in Ontario, Canada -- and had locals wondering if something or someone had poisoned the water -- were likely killed by a lack of oxygen caused when lake sediment was stirred up, the province reported Friday.

Water samples "do not show evidence of a manure spill or anything unusual in terms of contaminants," Ministry of Environment spokeswoman Kate Jordan told NBC News.

Jordan said it wasn't known if the die-off was unprecedented, but that"it was a significant number -- tens of thousands."

The fish were found along 25 miles of beach, with locals first coming across them on Monday.

But three days earlier, residents had complained of a manure-like smell from the water, the Chatham Daily News reported.

"It was rank, so profoundly rank, that it was difficult to stay down there and the next morning we woke up to the smell," Neville Knowles said of his family's weekend trip to Rondeau Provincial Park.

Another park visitor,Frank van den Boorn, said he and his family were at the beach when he noticed the darkened water and smelled something wrong.

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Thousands of fish wash up on Lake Erie beaches

Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 4:44 PM | Comments:

If you are headed to the lake this weekend, be careful around the water Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship reported algal blooms at a number of beaches this week, including some popular beaches on Lake Winnipeg.

Algae advisory signs can be seen at Hillside, Victoria, and West Grand beaches as well as at the lagoon of West Grand Beach.

Pelican Lake, which includes Ninette and Pleasant Valley beaches, has blue-green algal cells that are above the recreational water quality guideline, and the same can be said for the water Inverness Falls on Brereton Lake.The south pumphouse beach in that area, however, does not have algal cells that exceed the water quality guideline, and the concentration of the algal toxin microcystin is said to be safe.

On Lake Dauphin, Ochre Beach has blue-green algal cells that is above the guideline but the concentration of microcystin is safe here, too.

On Rock Lake and Killarney Lake beach, blue-green algal cells are said to be at a safe level and the concentration of microcystin is also said to be at a safe level.

Algae blooms are known to form and disperse quickly, which makes them difficult to predict. They also have the ability to last for several days or even weeks.

The reason for the high levels of algal cells is warm, calm weather combined with high nutrient loads in the water, as these are the perfect conditions for blue-green algae to develop, provincial officials said.

Excerpt from:

Several beaches above algae guidelines

Laboratory tests show that globs of oil found on two Louisiana beaches after Hurricane Isaac came from the 2010 BP spill.

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APNewsBreak: Tests confirm oil came from BP spill

Laboratory tests show that globs of oil found on two Louisiana beaches after Hurricane Isaac came from the 2010 BP spill.

Tests run by Louisiana State University for state wildlife officials confirmed that oil found on Elmer's Island and Grand Isle matched the biological fingerprint of the hundreds of millions of gallons of oil that spewed from BP's Macondo well.

On Wednesday, BP PLC said oil from its spill had been exposed by Isaac's waves and that the company would work to clean it up.

Ed Overton, the LSU chemist who did the state tests, said the oil found on Elmer's Island had not degraded much while oil at Grand Isle had.

"Both were good solid matches on Macondo oil," Overton said.

Two other samples collected from another barrier island did not match the signature of oil from the BP well.

Experts expected that hurricane waves would stir up oil buried along the Gulf Coast and that Isaac, which made landfall on Aug. 28 and soaked the region in the days afterward, apparently did just that. Reports of tar balls washing up on beaches after the storm were reported in Alabama and Louisiana, two states that got hit hard by BP's massive offshore oil spill.

On Tuesday, scouts found what they described as a large tar mat on the beaches of Elmer's Island, prompting state officials to close a 13-mile stretch of beach and restrict fishing along that shoreline.

Still, Overton said the discovery of the buried oil does not mean that the Gulf is seeing a repeat of the summer of 2010, when oil was spewing from an out-of-control well about 55 miles off the Louisiana coast.

"This is not oil everywhere," Overton said. He said the difference between the amounts of oil being exposed now by Isaac and what the Gulf saw in 2010 is "night and day."

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Tests confirm oil on beaches came from BP spill

NEW ORLEANS (AP) Laboratory tests show that globs of oil found on two Louisiana beaches after Hurricane Isaac came from the 2010 BP spill.

Tests run by Louisiana State University for state wildlife officials confirmed that oil found on Elmers Island and Grand Isle matched the biological fingerprint of the hundreds of millions of gallons of oil that spewed from BPs Macondo well.

On Wednesday, BP PLC said that oil from its spill had been exposed by Isaacs waves and that the company would work to clean it up.

Ed Overton, the LSU chemist who did the state tests, said the oil found on Elmers Island had not degraded much, while oil at Grand Isle had.

Both were good, solid matches on Macondo oil, Mr. Overton said.

Two other samples collected from another barrier island did not match the signature of oil from the BP well.

Experts expected that hurricane waves would stir up oil buried along the Gulf Coast and that Isaac, which made landfall on Aug. 28 and soaked the region in the days afterward, apparently did just that. Reports of tar balls washing up on beaches after the storm were reported in Alabama and Louisiana, two states that got hit hard by BPs massive offshore oil spill.

On Tuesday, scouts found what they described as a large tar mat on the beaches of Elmers Island, prompting state officials to close a 13-mile stretch of beach and restrict fishing along that shoreline.

Still, Mr. Overton said, the discovery of the buried oil does not mean that the Gulf is seeing a repeat of the summer of 2010, when oil was spewing from an out-of-control well about 55 miles off the Louisiana coast.

This is not oil everywhere, Mr. Overton said. He said the difference between the amounts of oil being exposed now by Isaac and what the Gulf saw in 2010 is night and day.

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Tests: Oil on La. beaches after Isaac came from BP spill

NEW ORLEANS Laboratory tests show that globs of oil found on two Louisiana beaches after Hurricane Isaac came from the 2010 BP spill.

Tests run by Louisiana State University for state wildlife officials confirmed that oil found on Elmer's Island and Grand Isle matched the biological fingerprint of the hundreds of millions of gallons of oil that spewed from BP's Macondo well.

On Wednesday, BP PLC said oil from its spill had been exposed by Isaac's waves and that the company would work to clean it up.

Ed Overton, the LSU chemist who did the state tests, said the oil found on Elmer's Island had not degraded much while oil at Grand Isle had.

"Both were good solid matches on Macondo oil," Overton said.

Two other samples collected from another barrier island did not match the signature of oil from the BP well.

Experts expected that hurricane waves would stir up oil buried along the Gulf Coast and that Isaac, which made landfall on Aug. 28 and soaked the region in the days afterward, apparently did just that. Reports of tar balls washing up on beaches after the storm were reported in Alabama and Louisiana, two states that got hit hard by BP's massive offshore oil spill.

On Tuesday, scouts found what they described as a large tar mat on the beaches of Elmer's Island, prompting state officials to close a 13-mile stretch of beach and restrict fishing along that shoreline.

Still, Overton said the discovery of the buried oil does not mean that the Gulf is seeing a repeat of the summer of 2010, when oil was spewing from an out-of-control well about 55 miles off the Louisiana coast.

"This is not oil everywhere," Overton said. He said the difference between the amounts of oil being exposed now by Isaac and what the Gulf saw in 2010 is "night and day."

See original here:

Tests confirm oil found on Louisiana beaches came from 2010 BP spill

NEW ORLEANS Waves from Hurricane Isaac uncovered oil previously buried along Gulf Coast beaches, exposing crude that wasn't cleaned up after the BP spill in 2010.

Since Isaac made landfall more than a week ago, the water the storm has receded and tar balls and oil have been reported on shores in Alabama and Louisiana, where officials closed a 13-mile stretch of beach Tuesday.

BP said Wednesday some of that oil was from the spill, but said some of the crude may be from other sources, too.

"If there's something good about this storm it made it visible where we can clean it up," BP spokesman Ray Melick said.

BP still has hundreds of cleanup workers on the Gulf Coast after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded, killing 11 workers and leading to the nation's largest offshore spill.

Melick said the company was working with the Coast Guard, state officials and land managers to clean up the oil on the Fourchon beach in Louisiana. He said crews would be there Thursday.

Isaac made landfall near Fourchon on Aug. 28 as a Category 1 storm, pummeling the coast with waves, wind and rain. Seven people were killed in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Ed Overton, a chemist and oil spill expert at Louisiana State University, said the exposed oil was weathered and less toxic, though it could still harm animals such as crabs, crawfish and bait fish.

He said the storm helped speed up natural processes that break down oil and it might take several more storms to stir up the rest of the oil buried along the coast.

"We don't like to say it, but hurricanes are Mother Nature's way of taking a bath," he said.

See more here:

Oil from BP spill turns up on Gulf beaches after Hurricane Isaac; company to clean it up

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Last Updated: 11:14 AM, September 5, 2012

Posted: 7:37 AM, September 5, 2012

NEW ORLEANS Old oil has washed up on some Louisiana beaches after Hurricane Isaac and officials are testing whether it's left over from BP"s Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010.

Officials late Tuesday restricted fishing in waters extending a mile off a roughly 13-mile stretch of coastline.

The weathered oil was in the form of tar. The state Wildlife and Fisheries Department said there was a large mat of tar on one beach and concentrations of tar balls on adjacent beaches. An adviser to Gov. Bobby Jindal said later surveys found several more tar mats. Their size was not immediately clear.

Oil company BP PLC said it was too early to say if the tar came from oil that spewed into the Gulf of Mexico when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded.

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Old oil washes up on Louisiana beaches after Hurricane Isaac

Weathered oil in the form of tar has washed up on some Louisiana beaches from Gulf waters churned by Hurricane Isaac, prompting restrictions of fishing in some waters and tests to determine whether the source is submerged oil from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster.

Only on NBCNews.com

"I'd say there's a smoking gun," said Garret Graves, Gov. Bobby Jindal's top adviser on coastal issues. He said tests were being done to verify the source of the oil.

"It's an area that experienced heavy oiling during the oil spill," he said.

Officials Tuesday evening restricted fishing in waters extending a mile off a roughly 13-mile stretch of coastline from Port Fourchon eastward to just west of Caminada Pass.

Recreational rod and reel fishing can continue but commercial and recreational shrimping, crabbing and commercial fin fishing was prohibited there.

The state Wildlife and Fisheries Department said there was a large mat of tar on one beach and concentrations of tar balls on adjacent beaches. Graves said later surveys found several more mats. The size of the tar mats was not immediately clear. Graves said high water has prevented a thorough examination.

"With many of the southern parishes of Louisiana still inundated with flood waters and not accessible at this time, it is premature to make any claims about possible oiling there whether it is from the Deepwater Horizon accident or any other source," BP PLC said in a statement emailed late Tuesday.

It said BP was awaiting test results from an area west of Grand Isle.

Justice Department alleges gross negligence by BP in Gulf oil spill

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Isaac leaves oil tar on beaches

TUPELO, Mississippi (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of rats killed by Hurricane Isaac have washed up onto the beaches of Mississippi and created a foul-smelling mess that officials say will take days to clean up. When the hurricane lifted the tides, the water washed across the marshy areas in Louisiana where the semi-aquatic rats live and forced them to ride the waves into Mississippi until they ...

Original post:

Hurricane Isaac sweeps tons of dead rats onto Mississippi beaches

WAVELAND, Miss. Crews are pitchforking dead nutria into front-end loaders on beaches in southern Mississippi.

The Sun Herald (http://bit.ly/PYmptw) reports that an estimated 16,000 to 18,000 of the semiaquatic, rat-like rodents and other dead animals washed up in Hancock County up after drowning in Hurricane Isaac's storm surge.

A federal contractor, U.S. Environmental Services, will dump the bodies in a landfill rated to take household garbage.

Hancock County Supervisor David Yarborough says county crews tried to deal with a similar problem after Hurricane Gustav and many workers got sick.

Neighboring Harrison County has fewer dead nutria. Officials say county crews removed nearly 16 tons of dead animals from its beaches Saturday and Sunday. Supervisor Kim Savant says they were still washing up Monday.

___

Information from: The Sun Herald, http://www.sunherald.com

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Contractor removing dead nutria from Mississippi beaches after Isaac

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Great White Sharks Spotted Near Popular Beaches

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Watch: Great White Sharks Spotted Near Popular Beaches

Assessing preferences of beach users for certain aspects of weather and ocean conditions: case studies from Australia.

Three well-known Australian beaches, Surfers Paradise Beach (Gold Coast), Narrowneck Beach (Gold Coast) and Bondi Beach (Sydney), were selected for analysis of beach user preferences for certain weather and ocean conditions. Regression methods were used to determine how the numbers of visitors to these beaches are affected by these conditions. Actual visitor numbers were counted at three times during the day over several months at each beach with the aid of web cameras. The corresponding weather and ocean conditions were obtained from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and local government agencies. Weekly and seasonal factors were also considered. The conditions preferred by beach users, as found in this study, are: no precipitation, higher temperatures, light-to-moderate wind speed (less than 30 km/h) and low wave height (up to 1.25 m). This study, the first to provide an analysis of beach user preferences for both weather and ocean conditions, shows that ocean conditions play a significant role in explaining the demand for beach recreation in Australia. It is therefore necessary for tourism management authorities or local governments to provide accurate and timely weather and ocean information to local, domestic and international beach users.

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Figure 1: Location of research areas.

Photo: flickr/bertdennisonphotography

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NCBI ROFL: Groundbreaking study finds beaches more popular on sunny days.

(CBS News) Beach goers in Cape Cod, Mass. found themselves with some unwanted company this Labor Day weekend.

Two sharks were spotted, prompting officials to raise the red flag, banning swimming at some of the areas most popular beaches. From South Beach in Chatham, to the northern tip of Nauset Beach in Orleans, shark sightings are keeping bathers out of the water.

One swimmer said, "Someone told me they can't come close to the edge, but I don't believe that anymore, so I'm just staying out."

The sightings aren't the first of the summer. In July, a man bodyboarding off Truro said he was bitten by a great white shark, the first known attack in those waters in over 75 years. He survived, but the incident led many to question why so many sharks are lurking off the cape.

Biologist and shark expert Simon Thorrold said the sharks are likely responding to an increased number of mammals - but not of the human variety.

"I think we're probably seeing more white sharks in the area at the moment," Thorrold said. "And the white sharks have probably been drawn into the area by a really large increase in the number of grey seals that are in the area."

That suspicion may have been confirmed this week when a family captured dramatic video of a shark attacking a seal off Monomoy Island.

Seals are a staple of a shark's diet. It is estimated 350,000 of them live along the North-Atlantic coast. They have been protected since the 1970s by the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act.

With the resident seal population showing no signs of slowing down, beach goers will have to share the shore with the sharks... at least until the great whites migrate to warmer waters this winter.

For Terrell Brown's full report, click on the video player above.

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Shark sightings shut down Cape Cod beaches

San Diego beaches will crowded with people getting in some more fun in the sun before the unofficial end to summer. And police and lifeguards will be out in full force to keep the peace.

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Large crowds pack San Diego beaches

Photo by Photo Provided

File photo contributed by the Martin County Commission Preparations for dredging the St. Lucie Inlet were shown this year in an aerial photograph, which began with the contractor assembling the upland pipe that runs from the inlet 15,000 feet to eventually pump sand into the Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge area to the south.

MARTIN COUNTY When it comes to beach restoration, no place on the Treasure Coast comes close to the record of the Town of Jupiter Island, where residents have taxed themselves to pay for 11 beach restorations costing $59.5 million during the past 39 years.

"It's a worthwhile investment," Town Manager Gene Rauth said. "It's to protect beaches that the residents want to enjoy."

Since that first Treasure Coast beach restoration in Jupiter Island in 1973, about $181 million in federal, state and local money has been spent in the three counties to replace sand on beaches, according to figures supplied by officials in Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin counties and Jupiter Island. This spending counts only large-scale beach restoration projects, not the many more instances when local officials truck or bulldoze sand to smaller erosion hot spots.

The positive effects of wide, sandy beaches on tourism and property values come with multimillion-dollar expenses and environmental risks to sea turtles and nearshore underwater habitat.

Martin County Commissioner Doug Smith said there is a twofold need to restore his county's beaches: It protects the roads and utilities on the barrier island; and beaches are a valuable piece of the local economy.

"When you have beautiful beaches, people come to the state and spend the time, money and energy here that they do," Smith said.

A state-sponsored study of the economic impact of Florida's beaches was published in 2005 by the Catanese Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions at Florida Atlantic University. It presented no separate data for the Treasure Coast's three counties, but included them in an eight-county "Southeast Beach Region" stretching from Brevard County to Key West.

The study stated 25.3 million tourists visited the region's beaches in 2003, spending $9.1 billion and creating 253,000 jobs.

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Beautiful beaches come with mulitmillion-dollar price tag, other costs, over years in Martin County