Scotland’s largest ever mass whale stranding was averted yesterday after marine experts said the mammals had broken into smaller groups and moved back into deeper water .

The pod of pilot whales, about 20 of which had severe head injuries, was spotted late Thursday night as the mammals attempted to beach themselves on the rocky shore of a remote Scottish island. Dozens of healthy whales had also followed them into the shallow water raising fears that up to 100 of the animals could strand themselves.

The pod was discovered moving back and forth along the Loch Carnan coastline in South Uist in the Western Isles, Scotland, showing signs of distress.

Volunteers from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) travelled overnight to reach the animals, and members of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals were also involved with the rescue, and were poised to use inflatable pontoons to push the whales back out to sea.

Local fishermen also helped to encourage the whales back into deeper water.

Scottish SPCA senior inspector Calum Watt said: “We were alerted to the possibility of a mass stranding yesterday evening and are now co-ordinating with the BDMLR.

read more at telegraph.co.uk

MALIBU, Calif. — It was a cool weekday afternoon, but dozens of surfers were bobbing in the water, waiting for a wave. This was Malibu: the national symbol of surfing, adored by California wave riders for 50 years, near the famous stretch of coast where Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon partied on the beach.

Some environmentalists say the state parks project is critical to save a lagoon that is choking on sand and silt, and threatening plants and animals.

An injunction has blocked the bulldozers until September.

These days, Malibu is renowned for something else: a court and civic battle that has pitted surfer against surfer, environmentalist against environmentalist and City Council member against City Council member. A $7 million plan to clean up the Malibu Lagoon — its brackish waters clogged with silt and mud — has stirred up a community that is more commonly identified with exclusivity and natural beauty than street protesters and smack-downs at City Council meetings.

“I don’t care if I am not recognized,” Andy Lyons, a surfer, shouted at a City Council meeting recently as officials threatened to eject him if he did not sit down. “I surf there every day, and you don’t.”

Environmentalists say the California State Parks cleanup project is critical to saving a lagoon that is choking on sand and silt, depleting oxygen levels and threatening native birds, fish and plant life.

But the project has alarmed some surfers, who assert that the dredging could affect the sand flow to the beach and destroy what many surfers celebrate as the best wave in the world (though that designation might not be as true as it was 20 years ago, before the last reclamation project, which many surfers think also damaged the wave).

read more at nytimes.com

Heal the Bay presents its Annual Report Card for California Beaches. Does your beach pass?

http://brc.healthebay.org/