[YAK] Oceanic Turmoil

All,

Currently there is a series of articles in the Los Angeles Times
dealing with world wide oceanic pollution. The study was a year in
the making and calls attention to such facts as the presence of huge
gyres of floating plastic refuse throughout the worlds’ oceans. There
is one off the Pacific coast that is the size of the state of Texas.
The article also deals with the wholesale deaths of entire colonies
of sea birds due to ingestion of plastic junk. Furthermore,there is
reference to the devastating algae blooms that are increasingly
making shoredwellers lives unbearable…especially in Florida.
There is also discussion of the rapidly increasing temperatures and
ph imbalance of the oceanic waters.

One of the more interesting observations was the reference to the
fact that large numbers of containers fall off of the freighters as a
result of storms. These monstrous objects float just at the surface
for many months and constitute a lethal hazard for small ships. I have
a friend who just bought an ocean going fiberglass hulled ketch and
according to the article, small ships must have a watch at all times
when under way so as to avoid hitting one of these hulks…the
container nearly always sinks the intruder !

If you wany to explore this issue further go to www.latimes/oceans.
Ron Mills, Mills Gem Co. Los Osos, Ca.