Chris Lindahl @cmlindahlMary Ann Bragg @MaryAnnBraggCCT

SOUTH WELLFLEET Recent storms have once again eaten away at some of Cape Cod's vulnerable shoreline, tearing away sand, destabilizing dunes and eliminating at least one access point to the beach below.

Two sets of stairs to the beach within the Cape Cod National Seashore were closed Tuesday until further notice because of storm damage over the weekend.

At Marconi Beach, the bottom of the stairs was washed away, and the entire structure will need to be removed and replaced, said Karst Hoogeboom, chief of maintenance and facilities at theSeashore.

On Wednesday, Seashore staffers were assessing the stairs at Nauset Light Beach to determine if the structure could be stabilized and reopened, Hoogeboom said. An area of the bluff washed away under the stairs but the structure itself may be OK, he said.

We might be able to save them, he said.

At Herring Cove Beach in Provincetown, storm damage to the 208-space northern parking is continuing as it has in previous years, Hoogeboom said. On Wednesday, about 55 spaces were available for use, with the rest of the buckled and eroded lot blocked off to cars. Funding to move the northern parking lot back from the shoreline is expected to be available in 2018, he said.

Watch: Recent storms have damaged the stairs at Marconi Beach

Nauset Light Beach, in particular, is a hot spot for accelerated winter-storm erosion, according to Seashore officials. The federal agency spent about $130,000 to rebuild the stairs for the 2016 summer season but is working with consultants to evaluate options and costs for stairs that could be removed before winter each year and then reinstalled after the threat of winter storms has passed, according to an announcement from the Seashore last year.

In 2013, the National Park Service spent over $200,000 to repair the stairs at Nauset Light Beach and at Marconi Beach after they had been damaged by the previous winter's storms.

Erosion-prone Town Neck Beach in Sandwich also took a beating in Mondays storm, according to David DeConto, the towns assistant director of natural resources.

The worst effects were west of the Sandwich Boardwalk, near homes on Bay Beach Lane and White Cap Path. The storm also took down a portion of town fencing that protects dunes from foot traffic, he said.

DeConto said he suspects that damage was due to two factors: the northerly winds and the fact that some dunes were more square, rather than gently sloping, which makes them more susceptible to erosion. The squared-off dunes were a result of previous storms, he said.

Photo Gallery: Outer Cape erosion

Town officials dont yet have a precise answer on how much beach washed away, DeConto said. Hell need to closely study a series of photographs taken before and after the storm to gauge the exact damage, which varied depending on location, he said.

In a separate project, U.S. Geological Survey officials were at the beach this week taking measurements for a study of the wave action of Cape Cod Bay, which theyll use to create a model. That work and data, including photographs, will also help Sandwich officials with their erosion-control efforts, DeConto said.

Follow Mary Ann Bragg on Twitter: @MaryAnnBraggCCT. Follow Chris Lindahl on Twitter: @cmlindahl.

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Cape beaches bruised by winter weather - Cape Cod Times (subscription)

A recent trend of auto burglaries has police in Jacksonville Beach and Atlantic Beach on the offensive.

Jacksonville Beach saw a 34 percent increase in auto burglaries between 2015 and 2016, the highest increase the department has seen in recent years. They accounted for more than half of the 500 total burglaries recorded last year.

Atlantic Beach recorded 112 auto burglaries and 29 cases of car thefts in 2016. This year the department already has 21 reported auto burglaries and six reported car thefts. Interim Police Chief Victor Gualillo said auto burglaries usually spike around the winter holidays, but the department has seen a change in the past year.

It runs in just strange spurts, Gualillo said.

Jacksonville Beach Police Department spokesman Sgt. Thomas Crumley said the department started noticing this trend in September.

To the south, Ponte Vedra Beach has also experienced a spike in auto burglaries in the past two years. St. Johns County Sheriffs Office reports a 57 percent increase in Ponte Vedra Beach between 2015 and 2016. The number of reported auto burglaries spiked from 84 in 2015 to 132 in 2016.

Cmdr. Chuck Mulligan, spokesman for the St. Johns County Sheriffs Office, said car burglaries are the No. 1 crime in St. Johns County and among the most common crimes in Ponte Vedra Beach.

Authorities in all three areas report that unlocked cars and leaving valuables in unlocked cars are the top two causes of auto burglaries. Mulligan and Crumley said unlocked cars are an easy target for criminals, as it means easier access and less chance for them to set off car alarms.

Young adult men are the suspects of most auto burglaries. Often going to different areas in groups, two or three people in the group will pull on the door handles of cars and will quickly go through any cars that are unlocked. This can mean taking things from a few dollars in change to valuables such as laptops, wallets or guns. In Atlantic Beach and Ponte Vedra Beach, there have been some reported cases where cars have been left unlocked with the keys in the ignition or in the car.

If its an unlocked car, and all you get is the change, its two or three dollars out of every car, Crumley said.

The Jacksonville Beach Police Department restarted its Lock It or Lose It campaign in September in response to raising auto burglaries. Authorities urge people to lock their cars and take any valuables especially handguns with them to discourage potential criminals and help police curb this trend.

I think that the harder we make it on them, potentially theyll find another path and another area to look at, Mulligan said.

Tiffanie Reynolds: (904) 359-4450

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Beaches law enforcement combats recent auto burglary trend ... - Florida Times-Union

The coasts of Ghana and Kenya, as well as those of Cape Verde and Zanzibar,are lined bypicturesque beaches strewn with the finest sand making them perfect postcard idylls.But what if Africa's dream beaches suddenly lost their sand and only had dirt and gravel to offer?

"Zanzibar has less and less sand," Zanzibar's Minister for Natural ResourcesHamad Rashid Mohammedtold DW. The reason for this, he said, is the excessive use of sand for construction projects in the semi-autonomous archipelago that forms part of Tanzania.

Official statistics from the Department of Forestry and Non-Renewable Natural Resources show that almost three million tons of sand were mined on Zanzibar between 2005 and 2015. This amount equals around 120,000 full truckloads.

"This is only the official mining. The unofficial numbers could possibly be twice this amount,"Mohammed said.

Big business, little regulation

Many locals worry that increased sand mining will lead to the decimation of tourist beaches in Zanzibar

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates around 40 billion tons of sand are processedworldwide every year. Today one can find the popular commodity not only on the world's beaches but also in microchips, telephones andGerman motorways. Around 30 billion tons of sand are used to makecement every year. However, sand is a finite commodity. Alongsidecoal, natural gas and oil, sand is one of the world's non-renewable resources. That means that it cannot be regenerated as quickly as people removeit.

According to the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), recent legislation on sand mining at the national and county levels have helped to regulate the industry.

"We have issued restoration orders in several illegal sand sites and summoned some of the culprits to our offices," said Titus Simiyu, NEMA Director for Environment for Machakos County in central Kenya, told Reuters.

"The authority has to conduct environmental impact assessment report before awarding a licence to sand harvesters," he added.

A vicious circle

The islands of Cape Verde are located 600 km (373 miles)from the coast of West Africa. The country is regarded as one of the safest in Africabut every third person is unemployed. Stealing sand -a commodity which is constantly needed aroundthe world -is a fast way of earning money. However, the consequences ofexcessive sand mining are devastating. On the beaches where tortoises once buried their eggs,there is now only dirt and stones. No sand holds back the tides, salt water flows unhindered inland,ruining crops, plants and homes.

Sea turtles on Cape Verde bury their eggs in the sand on the islands' beaches

In 2002, the government of Cape Verde bannedsand mining in the city of Pedra Badejo on the island of Santiago. The black sand there is now protectedby the military. In early February 2017, the government passed a resolution halting sand mining on all islands. The use of machines to extract sand is also banned. Neverthelesspoverty still drives residents ever deeper intothe sea to bring back buckets full of sand from the seabed.

Widespread problem

In Ghana, sand mining is alsoillegal. Rising temperatures have forced fish to move elsewhere and coastal erosion is causing arable land to disappear. Manypeople can no longer earn enough fromfishing and agriculture so theyswitch to mining sand which exacerbates the problem even more.

In Kenya, illegal sand miners have focused on the Masaani, Kiungwani, Mbitini and Kwa Nditi rivers. But with the removal of sand, the miners are removing theirown basis of existence. With less sand, the rivers dry out and cut off citizens and their cattle from valuable water resources. In Nigeria, sand mining is also a problem and is causing bridge and road foundations to become fragile.

Built on sand

It is not only African cement works which profit from the exploitationof sand. One of the main customers for African sand is the desert country of Dubai, which wants to enlarge its coast. Forthe island project "The Palm Jumeirah alone, 200 million cubic meters of sand and stone were used. Some of the sand was taken from the sea off Dubai's own coast but a large amount also camefrom Africanbeaches.

Much of the sand used to build the Jumeira Palm Island in Dubai was imported from Africa

Dubai's own desert sand was not an option as it is too slippery.Desert sandgrains are generally too round and smooth to stick together which makes such sand unsuitable as a basis for cement and therefore asan alternative for seasand.

"We have to slow down the pace of mining and consumption to protect our farmlands and our villages,"Minister Mohammed said. "We must look for substitute materials and manage to use less sand."

For a start he wants mining permits tobereconsidered and monitored more strictlythan before so that the disappearance of sand in Zanzibar and elsewhere in Africa can at least be slowed down.

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Sand mining decimates African beaches - Deutsche Welle

By David Perlman, San Francisco Chronicle

Photo: Rex Sanders / USGS

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Scientists detect severe beach erosion along California coast

Erosion damaged miles of beaches along the West Coast more severely than ever during the powerful El Nio event that hit the Pacific a year ago, and scientists warn that even heavier erosion could hit shorelines in coming years as sea levels rise and threaten coastal communities.

The beaches lining the coast between Mexico and Canada form a protective barrier that keeps the turbulent ocean from eating away at seaside cliffs and flooding low-lying coastal towns and cities, scientists say.

In a study of 29 major beaches, including those in the Bay Area, a team of coastal experts found that immense quantities of sand had been lost during last years El Nio winter. Shorelines had retreated dangerously, and rivers that normally carry fresh sand downstream to the sea from surrounding hills and mountains failed to make up for the losses.

Beaches and shorelines normally lose sand every winter, but the scientists calculated the loss at 76 percent greater than normal. It was by far the worst loss of shoreline since surveys began nearly 150 years ago, said Patrick L. Barnard, a coastal geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey who led the erosion study.

The scientists went to extraordinary lengths to make their measurements. They hiked the beaches hauling GPS devices in their backpacks, used boats to measure waves and underwater sand levels, drove specialized vehicles to cross deep sand, and took to the air to measure each beach with sophisticated light detection and ranging instruments, known as LIDAR, that measured sand levels with laser beams.

The scientists covered a total of 2,000 kilometers (1,242.8 miles) to measure the trail of erosion caused by high waves from El Nio that pounded the beaches at the highest energy levels ever recorded, said Barnard and his team of experts from seven coastal science institutions.

On one December night in 2015, for example, offshore buoys measured wave heights along California beaches that ranged from 26 to 36 feet, and along the Oregon coast the waves ranged from from 39 to 62 feet more typical of the surf at Mavericks.

Record high waves were also recorded by the buoy off Fort Point beneath the Golden Gate Bridge, at Point Reyes National Seashore and along the Monterey Bay coastline, Barnard said.

The team also measured changes along San Franciscos Ocean Beach before and after the El Nio event and found that the entire stretch between the ocean and the Great Highway had narrowed by as much as 180 feet, Barnard said. Erosion had carried the lost sand far out to sea, and it may never recover, he said.

Scientific forecasts of future changes in Earths climate indicate that the frequency of severe El Nio events will double in coming years, bringing higher temperatures and lowered precipitation along the coasts. That means less runoff of water from the interior and less sand carried by that water to rebuild beaches and threaten shorelines where 25 million people now live, Barnard said.

Barnards colleagues at the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center in Santa Cruz include oceanographers Daniel Hoover and Alex Snyder. The full teams report is published in the journal Nature Communications.

David Perlman is The San Francisco Chronicles science editor. Email: dperlman@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @daveperlman

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Scientists detect severe beach erosion along California coast - SFGate - SFGate

San Francisco Examiner

Line drawn in the sand between beach access and protection San Francisco Examiner Despite stormy weather last Thursday afternoon, Crissy Field beach wasn't empty. A determined man jogged across the wet sand. A pack of dachshunds in yellow and red raincoats waddled through ponds. A woman stood still, looking across the Bay. Even on ...

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Line drawn in the sand between beach access and protection - San Francisco Examiner

WEST PALM BEACH

Pitchers and catchers reported to spring training Tuesday at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, and they had plenty of company.

As pitcher Stephen Strasburg tried on pants in the Washington Nationals clubhouse, a construction worker atop a step ladder fiddled with wires on a blinking red curly W mounted on the ceiling.

Outside the Houston Astros clubhouse, sparks flew from a welders gun and dust spewed from a roaring concrete saw as pitchers Ken Giles and Mike Fiers played catch a few yards away.

West Palm Beach Fire Department inspectors brushed past first baseman Ryan Zimmerman and pitcher Gio Gonzalez on an inspection of the Nationals clubhouse.

Of course, no one was complaining on a day that marked the return of spring training to West Palm Beach for the first time since 1997.

Oh, man, its hard not to love this place, Astros manager A.J. Hinch said as he took in the view at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, a $150 million complex that broke ground Nov. 9, 2015, on an old trash dump south of 45th Street at Military Trial.

Obviously theres going to be some odds and ends weve got to finish, but you walk in, its gorgeous. Its got everything you can think of. The fields are ready for us. Its a wonderful new home.

The public, which helped pay for the complex through a hotel bed tax and a $50 million state contribution, gets to see the practice fields for the first time on Saturday. The first game in the main stadium is Feb. 28. But the 160-acre complex essentially opened for baseball Tuesday as players arrived for the first time.

You can see it (coming down 45th Street) off the highway, the lights and the netting. Its almost like an amusement park here, said Astros pitcher Mike Fiers. Once I pulled in, I saw all the construction workers and I was like, Where do I go?

Turns out the clubhouses are hard to miss: The Astros, with a giant H and star outside, are north of the stadium. The Nationals, marked by a giant red curly W in the parking lot, are to the south.

I wont get lost here. I see a big H for us so I know which side to go on, said Astros pitcher Ken Giles. Its a great facility. Everybody is doing a great job trying to finish up those small touches.

In the Nationals clubhouse, a hard-hat worker crawled across the carpet in front of Bryce Harpers locker, making sure the molding was perfect when the All Star right fielder arrives later this week. The chairs in the lobby were still covered in protective plastic.

It looks incomplete, Astros pitcher Luke Gregerson said about his first impressions.

Obviously they have such a short timetable to put a massive facility together so theres expected to be some delays and hiccups along the way. But the grass is green and the mounds look great. Thats pretty much our office.

Its certainly a vast improvement over the teams previous spring training homes, aging facilities in Viera (Nationals) and Kissimmee (Astros).

There are a lot of guys in awe of this place, and thats no knock against Kissimmee. Its more pro-West Palm Beach, Hinch said.

Im not trying to knock Viera but this is state-of-the-art, and the guys who have been with the Nationals since they were drafted have never seen anything like this before, said Nationals pitcher Tanner Roark.

It has the feel of a big league facility and we are lucky to have a place like this.

The biggest improvement is the location just a few exits on Interstate 95 from the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, and a 30-minute drive to the New York Mets in Port St. Lucie.

Once we get to (playing) games, we will feel the real benefit of being in West Palm Beach and having five teams within 20 or 30 miles, Hinch said.

Managers for both teams said the ongoing construction will not affect their usual spring drills.

I love the facility, said Nationals manager Dusty Baker, who spent spring training at the old West Palm Beach Municipal Stadium in the 1970s as a player for the Atlanta Braves.

Sure, theyve got some things that they still have to zero-in on but its outstanding. They even have a swimming pool out there. Thats really state of the art.

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First time since 1997: Pitchers and catchers report in West Palm Beach - MyPalmBeachPost

These aerial photos show heavy surf hitting and washing over numerous sections of Chathams barrier beaches. Well see what changes develop in the weeks and months to come.

As a child, spending summers in North Truro, I thought Cape Cod began at the Wellfleet Drive-In and ended at Provincetown. As a photographer, I now know that all the Cape towns leading to the canal have their own unique beauty and charm.

Roughly 30 years ago, I had the good fortune to work with the legendary photographer Dick Kelsey and as owner of Kelsey-Kennard have specialized in aerial photography as well as landscape/scenic, portraits, weddings, and photographing events on the Cape, the Islands, and beyond.

Photographs from our Gallery in Chatham are displayed in homes and businesses locally and world-wide.

Besides photography I also enjoy boating/ fishing (fish are usually very safe when Im out there,) gardening and tennis. Cape Cod is a very special place and I look forward to sharing my images with you as I travel about.

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Aerial Photos Of Wash-overs On Chatham's Barrier Beaches! - CapeCod.com News

(Photo: seator.org)

Last summer, Ketchikan Indian Community (KIC) began a phytoplankton and shellfish monitoring program in Ketchikan as part of the Southeast Alaska Tribal Toxins Program. KIC tests samples, and informs the public if dangerous levels of the toxin that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning arefound in local clams and mussels.

Listen now

Nicole Forbes is the environmental specialist at KIC in charge of collecting samples. She said its important for people to understand what paralytic shellfish poisoning is and how it is transmitted.

Basically there are tiny, microscopic plants in the ocean called phytoplankton, Forbes said. Most of them are not harmful. In fact, they produce 50 percent of our oxygen. But there are a few harmful species and one of those is Alexandrium and it produces something called saxitoxin. When the shellfish filter-feed, it gets collected in the shellfish, and when people eat it, thats what causes paralytic shellfish poisoning.

PSP toxins cannot be cooked or cleaned out of shellfish, and freezing does not destroy the toxin. Consumption of the toxin can cause paralysis and death. Commercial shellfish is tested and considered safe. The Tribal Toxins Program targets recreational beaches.

Forbes said KIC is testing samples at popular beaches in the Ketchikan area so people will know if clams, mussels, and cockles are safe to harvest. Currently, testing is being done at Settlers Cove and Whipple Creek. Forbes said they plan to add Seaport Beach in Saxman soon. She said the program is in the beginning stages and they are working to identify other sample sites.

Were trying to figure out where most people harvest, so that we can get those results, Fores said. The thing is, you have to get results for each beach. Because you could go two or three miles down and its going to be completely different down there.

Forbes said there are three steps to the collection process which starts with weekly phytoplankton samples.

Which involves me going out there with a phytoplankton net and wading in the water, and grabbing a sample, Forbes said. I bring that back to our local lab, and I put it under the microscope and look for those harmful phytoplankton species that I was talking about. If I see one, thats the first warning sign that we need to get a shellfish sample out as soon as possible, because its possible that saxitoxin is in the shellfish.

Forbes said suspect samples are sent to the Sitka Tribe of Alaskas lab in Sitka. She said the turnaround time for testing is fairly quick.

I send it out on Tuesday, gets there Wednesday, I get results Thursday or Friday, Forbes said.

Forbes said the third step of the process is filtration which involves taking a water sample, filtering it, and then sending the filter to the lab, where phytoplankton species and quantities are identified, along with concentration of toxins.

Tony Gallegos, the cultural and natural resources director for KIC, saidAlexandrium may be present, but not necessarily producing toxins.

The scientific literature hasnt come to clear conclusion on how you know whether theyre going to produce the toxins or not, what triggers that, Gallegos said. Thats still unclear. We can see the algae, but we need to actually do an analysis of those algae to see if they actually have toxins in them.

Forbes said phytoplankton arent as active in the winter because it is cold and dark, but she said no time of the year is safe to harvest without testing. She said they found high levels of toxins in butter clams at Whipple Creek this winter.

Actually butter clams hold onto the toxins longer, and then during the winter the shellfish slow down their filter feeding, so they can actually hold on to those toxins for the whole winter, Forbes said.

Forbes said she collects samples every two weeks, weather permitting, and if samples test positive, they are retested weekly. Results for all Southeast beaches being tested are posted in the data section of the Southeast Alaska Tribal Association Research website http://www.seator.org. Information is also sent to local media.

KIC is interested in identifying other local sites for sampling. If you have suggestions, you can contact Nicole Forbes at KIC. Forbes email is nforbes@kictribe.org. The phone number is 228-9365.

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Ketchikan testing local beaches for PSP toxins - Alaska Public Radio Network

On Monday, the North Ayrshire Council, which represents some 136,000 people in southwest Scotland, issued a warning on their website: beware, they said, of poisonous parsnips at the local beaches.

The plants in question, known as Hemlock water dropworts, are not actually parsnips, they just look like parsnips. Theyve been spotted on beaches in Ayrshire, on the Scottish coast, around 25 miles from Glasgow.

The council is especially urging pet owners and parents to be vigilant. If consumed, the plants can be deadly for animals, while just touching them can produce severe burns for humans.

The Hemlock water dropwortcan often be found in shallow waters and is most toxic during late winter and early spring time, notes the Ardrossan Coastguard Rescue Team (Search and Rescueits what we do) on Facebook.

The plantshave been known to be poisonous for decades now, if not millennia. In fact, theymight have been responsible for what Homer called the risus sardonicus, or thesardonic grin,a bizarre distortion of ones face. In ancient Sardinia, the plant was fed to older residents who couldno longer care for themselves, Scientific American reported in 2009, thus giving them agrin before they wereceremonially killed.

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'Poisonous Parsnips' Are Washing Up on Beaches in Scotland ... - Atlas Obscura

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Organic rice cakes are causing havoc for wildlife in Cornwall after a container ship lost 32 pallets of the plastic wrapped snacks.

A small container ship lost four large containers off the coast of Cornwall. One of the containers, which had rice cakes inside, broke, causing hundreds of them to wash up along the north coast.

The rice cakes are all individually wrapped in plastic which is causing concern among conservationists as to the adverse effects the latest pollution could have on wildlife.

Read more: Eden Project includes apprentices in long term future

Local group Surfers Against Sewage has already had a meeting with marine surveyors and now local residents are being called on to join the efforts to clean-up the worst hit beaches.

A Surfers Against Sewage spokesperson said: "A small container ship was hit by bad weather and four containers fell overboard. One contained Ikea furniture, one had power tools, one was filled with cases of wine and one was filled with 32 pallets of rice cakes. That container broke up and the rice cakes started washing ashore almost straight away.

"They have been washing up along the coast from Holywell Bay to Perranporth, with Perranporth being the worst hit beach."

Read more: Bomb squad heading to suspicious device on Maenporth beach near Falmouth - LIVE

The rice cakes belonged to Irish company Bunalun Organics who issued a statement apologising for the incident.

The company also arranged for a surveyor to visit the beach to organise the clean-up.

A spokesperson for Surfers Against Sewage added: "We have met with marine surveyors and we are now coordinating a clean-up, working with Clean Cornwall and Cornish Plastic Pollution Coalition.

"We had reps out over the weekend to start the clear-up. The problem is that each rice cake is individually wrapped in plastic wrappers, which is a big worry. The recent storms are breaking these wrappers up as well which is making it much worse for the wildlife.

"We will be organising volunteer beach cleans and these will be advertised on our website as soon as we have the dates."

Read more: Penzance man left mesmerized and privileged after incredible west Cornwall beach discovery

Kieran Dunne managing director of Bunalun Organics said: "As Managing Director of 'Bunalun Organic' I would like to express how sorry we are for the recent land spill on the beach at Perranporth.

"As an organic company we believe in promoting a healthy environment and in the 19 years we have been in business we have been very fortunate not to encounter an accident of this nature. As you may or may not be aware, one of our containers of 'Bunalun Organic' rice cakes was lost at sea on Friday, due to bad weather conditions, thankfully no persons were injured in the storm and the vessel arrived safetly home.

"We were made aware yesterday morning by the local people in Perranport that our products had washed up on to their beach. I would like to convey my thanks to each and every one of the persons involved in helping to commence with the clean-up and to thank them for responding so quickly.

"We are glad to inform you that a surveyor will be on the scene today and will arrange with the local authorities for a further clean up, to ensure the beach is restored to its former glory. As a company based in Co Kerry in Ireland, we are also surrounded by some beautiful beaches and we are aware of the importance of promoting a safe and environmental place for local people and visitors.

"We are confident that this was a rare incident and all measures will be put in place to try and avoid anything of this nature from happening again. We hope to learn from this situation and that all our shipments become smarter and safer in the future."

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Organic rice cakes are washing up on Cornwall's beaches and posing a threat to wildlife - Cornwall Live

In response to overwhelming support of Brunswicks participation in the Peaches to the Beaches Yard Sale this year, the citys Downtown Development Authority voted in favor of participating in the event this year.

A lot had to do with my new position with the DDA, said Harvest Hale program manager with the Downtown Development Authority. I had the time to find out if it was something we could do. We surveyed the community and over 200 people participated in the survey. There was huge interest, so we decided to bring it back.

The DDA Board agreed Feb. 10, to participate in Peaches to the Beaches and is now running full swing trying to spread the word ahead of the March 10-11 event.

Its been five years since the last time Glynn County was an official participant in the massive yard sale stretching from Perry to Brunswick and put on by Golden Isles Parkway Association.

We eventually gave it off to other people to work with it, and they eventually stopped participating, Hale said of why Brunswick has not been involved recently.

Extending along U.S. Highway 341, Peaches to the Beaches is a large community-wide yard sale event with a wide variety of vendors and concessions in every town along the way. Locally, it will take place from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., March 10-11 at Mary Ross Waterfront Park alongside the Elvis Festival.

The earliest set up time for vendors is 6 a.m. that Friday (March 10).

According to Hale, The Downtown Development Authority can only ensure vendor applications until March 3 but can accept them until noon the day before.

The success of this years event will likely determine future participation, Hale said.

I think wed want to continue to participate, she said. It depends on how successful we are and the communitys opinion.

In addition to the endless possibilities of what youll find along the roughly 170-mile sale, Hale said in her opinion, the draw of the yard sale, is that people like to have a good time.

Its very Georgia-focused, and it brings a certain level of love for your town, she added.

According to Hale, the DDA can accept only cash or check to rent space. The basic fee for space is $30, a yard sign is $30 and banners are $190. Availability of yard signs and banners is limited.

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Brunswick to take part in Peaches to Beaches Yard Sale next month - The News (subscription)

By Michael Wright

East Hampton Town officials are weighing whether the town should require owners of four-wheel-drive vehicles to get new permits for driving on the ocean beaches each year, as a means of getting a handle on how many vehicles may actually be using local beaches in a given year.

The proposal, which will be the subject of a public hearing next month, does not call for any new fees to be attached to the beach driving stickers, only that they be renewed each year.

Nonetheless, some members of the East Hampton Town Trustees have questioned the move and whether it is necessary or advisable.

"I would like to get some information from our enforcement officers, how many violations are they encountering out there?" Trustee Diane McNally asked other Trustees on Monday night. "Why is this coming up now?"

For decades the town has allowed town residents to get a free sticker for the bumper of their 4x4 that gives them the right to ride the beaches for as long as they own the vehicle. In 2000 the town changed the color of the stickers from blue to red, though the old stickers were not invalidated and there was no requirement that a vehicle owner get a new one.

During last year's trial of a lawsuit brought against the town by homeowners in Amagansett over the use of the popular "Truck Beach" area of Napeague by 4x4s, one of the claims that the property owners made in support of their argument that vehicle use had reached unreasonable levels was that there are more than 30,000 vehicles with 4x4 permits in the town. Officials brushed off the statistic in court by noting that certainly most of those vehicles were no longer in existence or the stickers long ago faded away.

Most of the Trustees, seemingly, understood the Town Board's reasoning for making the permits annual.

"They want to understand how many are actually in play here," said Trustee Keith Grimes, who also noted that when a vehicle with a town sticker is sold, someone who is not a town resident could be getting free access to town beaches.

Ms. McNally worried, however, that re-issuing the stickers to everyone entitled to one each year might give new weight to the opponents of beach driving by putting a fine point on the actual number.

"If we start from square one, what is going to be the magical number when the anti-vehicle people say you've issued too many?" she asked, also hinting that the annual re-issuing would eventually lead to fees to help cover the costs of renewals and new stickers each year.

Trustee Tyler Armstrong noted that residents get new dump stickers each year, with very high fees attached, and that getting the beach sticker should be of little inconvenience.

The board relented to Ms. McNally's doubts, agreeing to inquire with the town Marine Patrol about their experiences with permit violations before weighing in on the proposal officially.

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East Hampton Considers Annual Renewals For Beach Permits For First Time - 27east.com

A year-long initiative from a group of Mexico Beach citizens is nearing its destination.

MEXICO BEACH A year-long initiative from a group of Mexico Beach citizens is nearing its destination.

The city of Mexico Beach will hold a special referendum Feb. 21, during which citizens will vote on a resolution that would become an ordinance on Leave No Trace right away if the measure passes.

After seeing a worsening situation of personal items being left on the beach over the past few years, a citizens group decided enough was enough and went door-to-door collecting signatures.

We went around and got over 300 signatures, which was more than enough for a ballet initiative, said Mary Lee Raulerson, the spokesperson for the group.

According to Raulerson, the ballot is just the latest step in curbing a problem.

The last couple years we tried Keep It Neat, and that just didnt work, she said. People were leaving things on the beach all night long. Some people were leaving things there for weeks at a time. Tents, chairs, flotation devices; all these things that the wind can blow into the water, if it gets bad, or back up into the dunes.

The beach was just a mess, and the last two summers it has just gotten worse.

If the referendum is approved, Mexico Beach would be following other local communities that have passed a Leave No Trace ordinance in the recent years. Panama City Beach passed an ordinance in 2012, and Gulf County passed one in 2015.

The proposed ordinance would prohibit any obstruction or personal property being left on the beach between the hours of 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.

Raulerson isnt just worried about the appearance of the beach, though.

Its not just for the looks of the beach either its for our turtles, she said. The turtle patrol is behind this 100 percent. They go down every morning and see the turtle tracks.

They have gone down and seen where the turtles have gotten up to this stuff that is left and they just turn around and go back and they dont nest. Or they get tangled in it.

Raulerson wants the tourism industry to thrive in Mexico Beach and sees the proposed ordinance as a tool to achieve continued tourism activity in Mexico Beach.

It is real important to keep the beaches in good condition, in pristine condition, because that is what draws people here, she said.

Voting will take place at the Mexico Beach Civic Center between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. CT. No early voting will be allowed. Mexico Beach registered voters can request absentee ballots at bayvotes.org.

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Mexico Beach 'Leave No Trace' referendum Feb. 21 - The News Herald

People sunbathing in Benidorm, Spain (Picture: Getty)

Isis has reportedly made direct threats to attack beaches in Spain.

A report from the Spanish government is said to set out concerns that the terror group has started a campaign to hire translators, prompting concerns that the purpose is to attract Spanish fighters.

There has apparently been an increase in pro-Isis social media posts in Spanish, and of propaganda videos with Spanish subtitles.

The claims were reported in the Expressand expat paper the Olive Press, and have since been covered widely in the UK media.

According to the Express, the government document says: ISIS has been publishing in Spanish, which means an increase in the risk of its influence on radicals living in our country.

It said that the drive to hire Spanish translators suggests a growing interest in attracting Spanish-speaking foreign fighters.

The report is said to warn of directthreats issued to Spain over social media, over the countrys role in a global coalition targeting Isis in Iraq and Syria.

Metro has not been able to verify the document.

Isis claimed a 2015 massacre on a beach in Sousse, Tunisia, where 38 mainly British holidaymakers were gunned down by a man with aKalashnikov hidden in a parasol.

Another attack on tourists came on the promenade of Nice in the south of France in July last year, when 84 people were killed by a truck deliberately driven into a crowd of people celebrating Bastille Day.

There are fears that the group could try for a repeat this summer.

The FCO has not changed its advice on travelling to Spain: There is a general threat from terrorism. Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreigners. The Spanish authorities take measures to protect visitors, but you should be vigilant and follow the instructions of the local authorities.

In 2015, Spanish police disrupted a number of groups suspected of recruiting individuals to travel to Syria and Iraq. Some of them expressed an intention to carry out attacks in Europe. Several further police operations have taken place in 2016. Spanish authorities believe that a number of Spanish nationals have successfully travelled to Syria and Iraq.

There is considered to be a heightened threat of terrorist attack globally against UK interests and British nationals, from groups or individuals motivated by the conflict in Iraq and Syria. You should be vigilant at this time.

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Isis 'recruiting Spanish fighters to attack beaches in Spain' - Metro

The retro snaps were captured by Manchester-born photographer Herbert Smith

FASCINATING images taken 120-years-ago show native surfers in Hawaii carrying their boards along a sandy beach have been unearthed.

They provide a snapshot into life on the tropical paradise island and include intimate images of the native population.

Bonhams/BNPS

Bonhams/BNPS

Bonhams/BNPS

The photographs were taken by Herbert Smith, a draper from Manchester, who was living in Hawaii in the 1890s and have remained in the family since then.

But they have now decided to put the collection, which includes letters documenting his travels, up for auction and it is tipped to sell for 2,500.

Included in the collection are photographs of natives cutting up a turtle, Japanese and Portuguese female plantation labourers hard at work, a railway truck loaded with sugar cane and children eating sugar cane.

A picture of a family gathering outside a traditional home which shows four generations of Hawaiians, a Hilo-Chinese kindergarten school and girls fishing for small-fry also feature.

The stunning scenery is on display in many of the photographs with Hawaii famed for its beaches and volcanoes.

In one image you can see surf riders with their boards in Hilo Bay, while another shows an old Hawaiian fisherman with a throw net.

Surfing is believed to have been invented in the Polynesian islands in the 18th century.

Lieutenant James King was the first person to write about the art of surfing on Hawaii when he was completing the journals of Captain James Cook upon Cooks death in 1779.

When journalist Mark Twain visited Hawaii in 1866 he wrote: In one place we came upon a large company of naked natives, of both sexes and all ages, amusing themselves with the national pastime of surf-bathing.

Bonhams/BNPS

Bonhams/BNPS

Bonhams/BNPS

However, at the time these photographs were taken, surfing had yet to properly spread to the rest of the world. This would not occur until the 20th century.

As well as taking photographs, Smith documented his day-to-day experiences on the island in a series of letters to his family which also form part of the collection.

He sailed from Liverpool to the nearby island of Honolulu in 1893 and spent a year in Hawaii, birthplace of former US president Barack Obama.

Luke Batterham, book specialist at Bonhams who are auctioning off the photographs, said: These are quite nice early photographs which are particularly interesting because Hawaii was not as well visited at that time as some other places.

Bonhams/BNPS

Bonhams/BNPS

Bonhams/BNPS

Its nice that we have the story of Herbert Smith and its interesting to see the juxtaposition between modern and old Hawaii in the photographs.

The highlight is a really good surfing picture showing early surfers at Hilo Bay, a famous surf spot to this day.

Hawaii in the 1890s experienced a turbulent time with the overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani in a coup dtat in 1893.

The island was annexed by the USA in 1898 and in 1959 became the 50th state to join the superpower.

In 1993, the US Congress passed a joint Apology Resolution regarding the overthrow which was signed by President Bill Clinton acknowledging that the United States had annexed Hawaii unlawfully.

The 62 strong photograph album is being sold on March 1.

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Rare pics show Hawaii locals carrying surfboards along pristine beaches 120 years ago in one of earliest EVER ... - The Sun

High bacteria levels at majority of...

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. - WARNING: High bacteria levels found at 15 Santa Barbara County beaches.

The Santa Barbara County Health Department is asking the public to please stay at least 50 yards away from creek mouths and storm drains at these area beaches: Arroyo Burro Beach, Butterfly Beach, Carpinteria State Beach, East Beach @ Mission Creek, East Beach @ Sycamore Creek, El Capitan State Beach, Gaviota State Beach, Goleta Beach, Guadalupe Dunes, Hammonds, Hope Ranch Beach, Leadbetter Beach, Refugio Beach, Sands Beach @ Coal Oil Plant, and Summerland Beach.

Jalama Beach is open.

In Ventura County the mass majority of beaches also have a warning, for not meeting state requirements and having a high level of bacteria. For details on Ventura County beaches bacteria levels, go to the Environmental Health Department's webpage.

The precautionary warnings are issued during significant storms. When rainfall is significant enough to result in runoff flow into storm drains, channels, creeks, and rivers that empty onto the beach of Ventura County. In general, 0.2 inches of rainfall may be enough to create significant runoff conditions.

The Ventura County Environmental Health Division says storm water runoff has the potential to carry disease causing bacteria to the beaches and into the ocean water. Contact with this runoff water will result in an increased risk to human health and should be avoided for at least 72 hours after all rainfall activity has ended. If contact occurs wash thoroughly with soap and water.

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High bacteria levels at majority of local beaches - KEYT

With ice on less than 6 percent of Lake Erie, there will be consequences on local beaches, sports and weather.

Lake Erie is mostly open water this winter.

Ice covered just 5.6 percent of the lake surface and 12.5 percent of all of the Great Lakes Friday, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.And higher-than-normal temperatures this weekend will have chipped away at that.

There are and will be consequences.

Ice concentrations significantly below the 1973-2014 winter average of 52.4 percent have all but eliminated ice fishing this winter, will affect the weather through early spring and will increase erosion at Presque Isle State Park.

"With the warmer winters we've had the last two years, we're going to have more erosion and are going to have to do a lot more to make the beaches usable in certain sections of the park," Presque Isle State Park Operations Manager Matt Greene said.

Lake ice, and ice dunes, help protect the beaches and beach habitats. With no dunes and only surface ice close to the shore this winter, that ice, rather than protecting the beaches, can scour away areas where it's pushed by waves and wind, Greene said.

Areas of the park from Beach 6 to the Presque Isle Lighthouse are hardest hit by erosion because of prevailing winds from the west and northwest, and park officials are seeing that this winter, Greene said.

Wind and wave-buffeted Mill Road beaches "don't exist right now," he said. "We've moved all of the picnic tables back, and lost a few there."

Park officials added sand at Beach 8 and Mill Road this past fall to supplement a smaller-than-normal 2016 replacement project. The park put down between half and two-thirds the sand it normally does because of a lack of federal funding.

"If we hadn't done that in the fall, the (shoreline) would be into the road right now," Greene said.

Open waters have also taken a toll on ice fishing. The sport isdependent on ice that is thick enough to walk on, and there hasn't been a lot of that this season.

"There were a couple of days in January when the experienced guys who really know how to check the ice were out. But there hasn't been anything like a whole city of huts out there," said Laura Daniels, owner of Presque Isle Angler Bait and Tackle, on lower State Street on Erie's bayfront.

Daniels' business this winter has slowed accordingly.

"I always tell people that when you have a business like ours, it's like being a farmer, it's that dependent on the weather," Daniels said. "Some years with ice fishing we're so busy we can't even stand ourselves. Other years, like this, we have to sit back and look for alternative measures to unload our ice fishing stock and we have plenty in clearance sales or on the internet.There's got to be ice somewhere, in Minnesota maybe."

The winter of 2013-14 was the best for ice fishing in recent years, with consistently low temperatures, thick ice and a long season to drop lines for bluegill and crappie. Fishermen estimated that the ice on Misery Bay that winter was 2 feet thick.

Temperatures have not been consistently low this winter; thehigh Jan. 21 reached 65 degrees. Monthly temperature averages also have been above normal, according to the National Weather Service, resulting in mostly ice-free waters.

And with the lakes largely free of ice, lake-effect snow could be possible through early spring.Lake-effect snow occurs when cold air draws warmth and moisture from lake waters, forming clouds and heavy snow.

"It's more common in November and December and even into early January," said Karen Clark, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Cleveland. "But with little ice coverage on the lake, the potential for lake-effect snow is still there, especially at your end of the lake. East of the (Sandusky area) islands, the lake is largely ice-free."

Still, snow happens, and there will be more winters with more consistently low temperatures and ice.

"There are always going to be peaks and valleys," Presque Isle's Greene said.

Valerie Myers can be reached at 878-1913 or by email. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNmyers.

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Ice-free Lake Erie takes toll on fishing, beaches - GoErie.com

Cindy Swirko @CindySwirko

The long awaited four-laning of State Road 20 from Hawthorne to Interlachen is set to begin this summer the time of the year when the road is used by many Alachua County residents to get to the Atlantic beaches.

Troy Roberts, of the Florida Department of Transportation Lake City district office, said the first leg, about 2 miles from Hawthorne to the Putnam County line, will likely start in the summer. The rest, from the county line about 9 miles to Interlachen, will follow.

Thats almost a $17 million project, Roberts said. It will probably be starting over the summer. As soon as they finish the one in Alachua, they will probably jump on the part in Putnam.

The stretch is the last two-lane gap of SR 20 between Gainesville and Interlachen. The drive can be frustrating because traffic is often slow on the hilly, curvy road, which has few opportunities for passing.

Yet the road is typically used by many Gainesville and southern Alachua County residents to get to Crescent Beach, St. Augustine and the Flagler County beaches.

The only other reasonably direct option and an alternative when construction is underway is taking State Road 26 through Melrose to State Road 100 and then on to Palatka.

Meanwhile, at the other end of Alachua County, an FDOT resurfacing project is about to get underway in High Springs that could affect commuters from neighboring counties.

The $2.6 million project involves three separate roads: U.S. 41 from Southeast Sixth Avenue to U.S. 441, U.S. 27 from Northwest Ninth Street to the Columbia County line and Northwest First Street from U.S. 441 to Northwest Ninth Street.

In addition to milling and resurfacing the roads, work will also include traffic signals, shoulder and curb work improvements, sidewalks, highway signing and other incidental construction.

An open house on the project will be today from 4 to 6 p.m. at the corner of Southeast Railroad Avenue and U.S. 27, next to the Christmas tree. Flyers and handouts will be available, and FDOT personnel will be there to answer questions.

Construction is scheduled to begin on Thursday and is expected to completed this summer.

Crews will work day and night, but lane closures will be only at night, Roberts said.

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Main drag to Atlantic beaches getting widened - Gainesville Sun

Dinah Voyles Pulver @DinahVPMatt Bruce @Matt_BruceDBNJ

PAINTERS HILL Four months after Hurricane Matthew pummeled coastal Volusia and Flagler counties, reminders linger nearly everywhere. Nowhere more than on battered local beaches.

Dead trees and bushes stand where the Atlantic Ocean ripped away dunes and rushed into communities and golf courses. Repairs continue on homes flooded by water and sand. Other homes hover on the brink of eroded dunes, at the mercy of the next hurricane or even a strong Noreaster.

Matthew eroded nearly two million cubic feet of sand and dunes in a matter of hours. Estimates pieced together over the past four months indicate repairing that damage replacing just the sand the hurricane eroded, not any previous critical erosioncould cost nearly $50 million.

Another $32 million may be spent to repair and protect State Road A1A north and south of Flagler Beach, not including an already planned federal project.

As many struggle to recover from Matthew's devastation and cope with its continuing economic impact, one question worries many along the coast, especially in Flagler County. Can the battered shoreline the only protection against the powerful ocean be replenished before another storm arrives and compounds the damage?

The next one, if it came similar or worse, (the water) would go clear across the island, said Paul Pershes, president of the Ocean Hammock Property Owners Association in northern Flagler. Theres nothing stopping it.

The storm's wrath

At the peak of Hurricane Matthew on Oct. 7, a storm surge of 5 to 7 feet swept ashore along Flagler County, topped by waves 15 feet or higher, the National Weather Service said. The large breakers ripped out 30 feet of dunes from the shoreline in some locations. In other spots, sand and water were pushed far inland, flooding entire neighborhoods, and overwhelming storm water and septic systems.

In Volusia County, 19.4 miles of beaches were considered critically eroded even before Matthew pummeled the shore, according to a Florida Department of Environmental Protection report last August.

In that same report, very little of Flagler County was considered critically eroded, said County Administrator Craig Coffey. The report listed 4.8 miles in the county. But now?

Theyre re-evaluating it, Coffey said. We lost 1.5 million cubic yards of sand.

Volusia County saw far less damage to its dunes. Some beaches on the south end of the county actually gained enough sand that a November survey estimated an overall net gain of about 240,000 cubic yards south of Ponce Inlet. North of the Inlet, the survey found a net loss of about 359,000 cubic yards of sand.

In the flurry of meetings and tours with state and federal officials since the storm, local officials have learned restoring the dunes will take patience, partnerships between government agencies as well as private property owners. It will also take lots of money. DEP has worked with local governments on a draft hurricane recovery plan and they are refining strategies and cost estimates to complete a final version to be delivered to state legislators.

In Flagler County, coastal neighborhoods north of Beverly Beach are considered at greatest risk from the next hurricane. County Commission Chairman Nate McLaughlin said the public health and safety aspects of the at-risk neighborhoods in the most northern end of the county are the "biggest concern."

When those dunes were breached, the ocean came in and flooded the whole basin, affecting 600 homes, and all of those had septic tanks, McLaughlin said. He also worries about tourism. The beach, he said, is "our No. 1 attraction.

Businesses around Hammock Beach Resort have suffered as a result of the hurricane damage, said Terry Bechtold, the resorts managing director. Many businesses relied on customers staying at the resort, part of which was flooded by surging seas. Resort officials estimate it could do $8-to-$10 million less business in 2017 as a result of Matthew.That also has an unknown impact on tourism bed tax and sales tax collections.

Harder to measure but also of concern for Bechtold is the loss of reputation Flagler County had for being safe from hurricanes.

For prospective businesses and homeowners considering relocating to the area, if the dunes could be replenished and strengthened, it would put investors and prospective property owners at ease, he said. Now there's a vulnerability "that everybody is aware of."

Without the dunes, theres nothing to prevent the ocean from rushing into the community and flooding the homes of more than 2,500 people.

If this werent going to be redone in the next 10 or 15 years, Id seriously consider selling my house, said Pershes, who lives a block from the ocean.

Lingering economic impact from damaged coastal properties also concern Flagler County officials. Nearly a third of the county's tax base is collected from its coastal properties, said Coffey, who has spent much of the past four months coordinating and juggling all the moving pieces of hurricane restoration.

Working with FEMA

Local and state officials are working to pull together money and sand, from state-approved sources, for dune restoration.

Flagler County is scraping money together to match a $5.65 million award for an emergency grant recently announced by Gov. Rick Scott.

Were trying to structure that in a way that our participation is minimized cash-wise, McLaughlin said. They hope, for example, that part of the countys required match could come from money the county already spent, or money that private communities are spending on dune restoration.

Meeting the required matches for federal and state money could delay other projects in the county, such as a new library or a new fire station. McLaughlin said the commission also isconsidering adding a penny to its tourism bed tax to raise the money needed to restore the beach.

Volusia and Flagler counties are relying on possible reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for shoring up the dunes.

The program provides no less than 75 percent of the eligible costs of an accepted restoration project, said FEMA spokesman Phil Wernisch.The counties have met with FEMA and are putting together documentation the agency requires before funding is approved.

The counties contracted with Jacksonville-based Taylor Engineering to help with that documentation. The firm will study images taken before and after the storm to calculate how much sand was lost and propose alternatives and designs for restoration.

Carefully meeting each specific requirement for FEMA is an important part of the process,said Jessica Winterwerp, Volusia Countys coastal division director.If we went ahead and placed sand on the beach we would step over a couple of steps of the FEMA process and they may not approve us.

Looking for money

Counties also are waiting to hear how much money if any state legislators approve during the spring legislative session.

The Governors proposed budget recommends $111 million for beach restoration and renourishment, including $61 million to help communities recover from damages during the 2016 hurricane season. McLaughlin saidFlagler County hopes for $10 million.

The counties also are waiting to hear if the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gets funding for planned projects that would benefit dune restoration.

Flagler County officials hope to move quickly to "sturdy up the dunes" and close breaches that might allow water to flood into surrounding communities.

A few private homeowners already have obtained emergency permits and are doing their own dune restorations in Flagler County. At Hammock Dunes, the property owners association will begin a private restoration starting Monday. The county's Varn Park will be closed to make way for the line of dump trucks hauling sand to the beach.

In Volusia County, which doesnt have the life-threatening dune situation that Flagler County does, the approach is to wait and see what FEMA deems necessary. Winterwerp said some of the sand eroded off Volusia beaches is likely sitting in the ocean just offshore and could work its way back to the beaches this summer.

Volusia County Chair Ed Kelley said he hasnt heard from any constituents asking for beach renourishment.

If you hear anything, its people asking, Why are you going to do renourishment when its just going to wash away again, Kelley said.

Replacing sand on Florida beaches has long been controversial with some critics questioning the high cost and the environmental effects.

But Kelley supports making use of the FEMA grants, he said.I think we need to do what we can to protect the businesses and the homes."

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Battered Beaches: Restoring coastal erosion from Matthew could cost $50 million - Daytona Beach News-Journal

Volunteers and conservationists in New Zealand who endured frigid temperatures to help hundreds of beached pilot whales return to the water continue to have their work cut out for them.

A charity that helps protect marine mammals said Sunday that about 17 of the creatures were discovered stranded again near a roadside of South Island's Golden Bay after volunteers had spent Friday and Saturday trying to save 650 of them. Many of them were already dead, although about 240 whales refloated themselves.

"Our medics are attending to the 17 live whales," Project Jonah said on Facebook.

Nearly two dozen people were using buckets and cloths to help keep the beached whales wet, while a spotter plane was patrolling the area to see if there were any more whales heading inland toward the bay.

Pilot whales grow to about 25 feet and are common around New Zealand's waters.

The 17 whales came from a pod of 200 that were left stranded Saturday on Farewell Spit, a sand spit at the tip of the South Island, said Amanda Harvey, the Department of Conservation's biodiversity ranger.

Volunteers worked until late into the evening to help that pod return to the sea, with the humans having to jump out of the water when the high tide emerged, bringing the increased risk of stingrays.

"I was here first thing this morning and there was a small group of us," Kyle Mulinder, a volunteer with Project Jonah, told The Associated Press. "And essentially we went out and saw one of the biggest strandings I've ever seen."

Despite the new beachings, conservationists celebrated the successful refloating of about 180 whales, although they remained weary that they could strand themselves once again.

If the whales do rebeach themselves, Harvey said more volunteers will be needed.

Earlier, an initial group of 416 stranded whales were found early Friday, although many of them were dead.

A volunteer pours water on pilot whales at Farewell Spit on Saturday. MARTY MELVILLE / AFP - Getty Images

Department of Conservation Golden Bay Operations Manager Andrew Lamason said about 20 of the new group stranded Saturday were euthanized by conservation workers because they were in poor condition.

Lamason said about 100 surviving whales from the initial group on Friday were refloated, and dozens of volunteers had formed a human chain in the water to prevent them from beaching themselves again.

"I've never experienced death like this before," said volunteer Jonathan Jones. "You know, for such a majestic animal, it's really strange to see them doing this."

Experts have different theories as to why whales beach themselves, from chasing prey too far inshore to trying to protect a sick member of the group.

Farewell Spit has been described as a whale trap. It has a long protruding coastline and gently sloping beaches that make it difficult for whales to swim away once they get close. It has been the site of previous mass whale beachings.

Dead pilot whales line the shore at Farewell Spit, Saturday. MARTY MELVILLE / AFP - Getty Images

Officials will need to dispose of hundreds of carcasses soon.

Lamason said one option was to tether them to stakes in the shallow tidal waters and let them decompose. The problem with towing them out to sea or leaving them was that they could become gaseous and buoyant, and wind up floating into populated bays.

New Zealand has one of the highest rates of whale beachings in the world. Friday's beaching was the nation's third-biggest in history, the AP reported.

"So it's a very large one," said Rochelle Constantine, a marine biologist. "Logistically it's a massive undertaking."

Continued here:

Volunteers in New Zealand Race to Save 17 Whales Stranded After 650 Beached - NBCNews.com