FAIR AT SAN SIMEON

The third annual Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary’s Coastal Discover Center was held last weekend on an overcast, but cool afternoon at William Hearst State Beach on San Simeon Bay. As usual the Fair attracted both locals and visitors from afar. Kids took advantage of expanded interactive exhibits to while away their afternoon. All agreed that this year’s fair scored another success!

Roger Spielberg setting up video camera equipment with good friend, PJ Webb. What I really needed was advice!



BLOGGER’S SNAP SHOTS…..

I wish I could take credit for teaching and developing my three children's emerging photography skill and art. But I can’t. The best I can claim is constant encouragement in their photographic endeavors. I am absolutely thrilled with the stride Allison, Erik and Todd in photography. And I am very proud of them!

All the photographs below were taken by one of the three; I wanted to make sure to give credit where credit‘s due.


TEXAS SWELTERS IN THE HEAT

Allison reports that the daily temperature this summer usually rises past 100 degrees with very high humidity. Despite all that, she and the family love living in Texas and their home in Copperas Cove. The heat must have gotten to them!


Drew perfects his diving techniques at their local pool.


Lexi getting swimming lessons from one of the pool's life guards.

TODD FINALLY REUNITED WITH MELISSA IN INDONESIA

Having had an extremely busy June, Todd flew to Indonesia in early July to hook-up with his bride. Melis (as Todd fondly calls her) is on a Fulbright Scholarship and has already been there for six months. They will live in an apartment in Yogyakarta until they return to the United States in December.


Todd at the summit of Mt. Rainer in June. The altitude is 14,410 ft.


Erik and Todd at Lassen Volcanic National Park in northeastern California.They spent several days climbing, hiking and camping in the wilderness.


I love this photograph by Erik during their trip to Lassen NP.
It was taken at Rainbow Lake in the Park.

CALIFORNIA SEA LION MALNUTRITION PROBLEM IDENTIFIED

On my last post I did a piece on severe California Sea Lion mortality this summer due to malnutrition. NOAA scientists have identified the lack of food is due to "El Nino", a weather pattern that develops every 5-7 years and last up to 18 months. El Nino conditions also effect tides and storm patterns. The net effect is for traditional feeding grounds to shift drastically or disappear altogether. Just one of those quirks of nature telling mankind who's boss!

Who’d Have Thought?

Wine grapes are by far and away the largest cash crop in San Luis Obispo County. Cattle, strawberries and broccoli are next in line. On the bottom of the economic rung are cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and abalone. That’s right: Abalone!

Recently I toured The Abalone Farm with fellow volunteers at the Marine Mammal Center. The Farm was founded in 1968 and is situated on 18 acres adjacent to Estero Bay, between Cayucos and Cambria on California’s Central Coast. It has the distinction of being the largest abalone farm in the United States.

Red abalone spawn just like fish: Eggs and sperm are released into the water where fertilization occurs, Offspring hatch within 24 hours in a nursery tank where they live for at least eight months. The brown things at the bottom of the tank are the developing abalone.

When the abalone the large enough, they’re moved outside to floating baskets in concrete tanks. At this is where they begin feeding exclusively on kelp that is harvested in the Pacific, just off the coast from the Farm. The tanks water conditions must be pristine which, requires a sophisticated filtration system.

After two years the red abalone grow to 2 inches and they’re ready for one of the 700 grow-out tanks at The Abalone Farm. Again the animals subsist on plenty of tender, juicy kelp.

Finally, by year 5 the red abalone is 3.5 to 4.5 inches in shell length, which is the most efficient size to send red abalone to market. The Farm ships live abalone all over the world. A smaller segment of their business is producing pre-tenderized abalone steaks for many high-end, West Coast Restaurants.

Bon Apetite!

Lilliputian Surfer Dude Invades Cambria!

Erik and Rachel took Ronan on his first extended road trip several weeks ago to visit Grandma Di and Grandpa Roger in Cambria. Rather than describing the action (and I mean action!) in words, I thought it would be much more appropriate to use a captioned slideshow to describe the vivacity of the weekend!

California Sea Lions Are Taking It In The Flippers!

Seemingly ubiquitous on California’s Central Coast, California Sea Lions are perishing in record numbers in 2009. This is especially true of yearlings. Unfortunately, I’ve had first-hand experience with this cataclysm. Earlier this week, on Wednesday, I was called out on five strandings in the Cambria-San Simeon area on one day alone; all were younger California Sea Lions (CSLs). And I wasn’t even scheduled to work that day!

To add further to the grim statistics, in The Marine Mammal Center’s area of responsibility alone, there has been over a 300% increase in the CSL stranding. Additionally, the annual count of dead CSL yearling during the annual survey of recovered CSL has gone from a norm of 1000-1500 CSL pups to over 6000!

The root cause of these problems seems to be a severe decrease in the food supply. According to Bob DeLong of the California Ecosystem Research Project, water temperature changes, water current changes and ocean upwelling changes have all contributed to the paucity of available food supplies. Other marine mammals and sea birds are also being adversely affected, but to a lesser extent.



In 2009, some California Sea Lion yearlings make it.....many do not.



LOVE AND RESPECT OUR PLANET!