Steve's Marine Service Blog

Boaters can help orcas by slowing down

A new study suggests speed can be a key factor.

BREMERTON, Wash. (AP) — A new University of Washington study of underwater noise finds that killer whales are bothered more by a fast boat than a large one or by a number of them in close proximity.

Studies have shown that the Puget Sound's Southern Resident orcas are affected by underwater noise produced by ships, ferries and smaller vessels. The whales spend more time and energy trying to communicate with each other over the noise, and they tend to hunt less, swim deeper and travel more when noise levels are high.

"Previous studies looked at how the number and distance of boats can affect the whales," said Juliana Houghton, a University of Washington aquatic sciences researcher and the lead author of the study. "This is the first that shows that speed is also important, and that if everybody decreased their speed, it would be helpful."

The study was conducted in conjunction with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Kitsap Sun reported.

It's the first study to examine how much noise from individual boats reaches the whales in the Salish Sea, which includes the sound and the waters between Vancouver Island and British Columbia mainland. A small motorized boat traveling at high speed can be more disruptive than a large, slow-moving vessel or a group of slow-moving boats.

NOAA considers vessel traffic one of the three main threats to the whales' recovery. The other threats are dwindling food sources and marine contamination.

Southern Resident whale populations have declined about 20 percent since 1990. This year, their numbers nudged just beyond 80, but the Southern Residents are falling short of the annual 1 percent growth rate specified under the state's killer whale recovery goals.

Researchers simultaneously used laser positioning systems to measure the distance between vessels and the whales and to gauge vessel speed and size.

The study did not assess the impact of large ships or ferries. The largest vessel studied was a 100-passenger whale-watching boat.

Federal rules require boats to stay at least 200 yards away from whales and at least 400 yards out of the path of whales. There's no speed limit, but NOAA recommends that boats slow to less than seven knots when within 400 yards of the nearest whale.

Speed has not been regulated because it's difficult to enforce and because speed had not — until now — been shown to be an important factor.

NOAA plans to review the effectiveness of vessel regulations next year.

MAN ATTACKS HIS ROOMMATE FOR TAKING TOO LONG IN BATHROOM

YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP FOLKS!!

Police say a northern New Jersey man punched his roommate and threw him into a glass mirror because he was taking too long in the bathroom.

The Jersey Journal REPORTED that the attack happened around 2 a.m. Saturday at an apartment building in Jersey City.

The victim told police that the man yelled at him through a closed door to get out because he wanted to use the bathroom. The victim's neck was cut by glass from the shattered mirror, but he refused treatment for his injuries.

The 32-year-old alleged assailant was treated for small cuts on his left arm. He's charged with simple assault and domestic violence.

TWO PERISH IN NEW JERSEY ACCIDENT

MANASQUAN - Seven people were pulled from the Atlantic Ocean Friday after a pontoon boat capsized outside the mouth of the Manasquan Inlet sending all occupants overboard.
 
The boat, estimated to be 30 to 35 feet, was carrying seven people when it flipped around 1:30 p.m., said Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer Chris Sparkman, commander of the agency's Manasquan Station.

He said all seven were pulled from the 53-degree water and taken to hospitals. Sparkman did not know their conditions or what they had been doing before the vessel capsized.

"A lot of people saw it and immediately went into action," Sparkman said.

Those rescuers included surfers, who paddled out to the capsized boat, and operators of other boats nearby.

In addition to the Coast Guard, New Jersey State Police marine units and New York Police Department rescue divers were at the scene. At least four rescue boats and three helicopters are involved in the ongoing search.

Within an hour of the incident, crews were collecting debris such as personal flotation devices and coolers that went overboard when the boat flipped.
 
There was a good amount of boat traffic in and out of the inlet Friday as temperatures climbed into the 60s and winds were light.
 
While the seas were relatively calm, occasionally large swells broke on the jetty at the entrance to the inlet, which separates Manasquan to the north and Point Pleasant Beach to the south. One police officer estimated the waves occasionally were 5 to 6 feet.

Initially, one of the vessel's occupants was unaccounted for, according to Point Pleasant Beach police. However, a New York Police Department dive team was seen pulling the last of the occupants from the water.
 
Four rescue helicopters circled overhead during the rescue effort.

Witnesses said the boat was attempting to return from the ocean through the choppy waters of the inlet when it capsized.

Thanksgiving is most commonly celebrated at home, with family and friends.

 This is one of the things which makes Thanksgiving such a meaningful day and full of traditions with those closest to us.

According to most historians, the pilgrims never observed an annual Thanksgiving feast in autumn. In the year 1621, they did celebrate a feast near Plymouth, Massachusetts, following their first harvest. But this feast most people refer to as the first Thanksgiving was never repeated.

Oddly enough, most devoutly religious pilgrims observed a day of thanksgiving with prayer and fasting, not feasting. Yet even though this harvest feast was never called Thanksgiving by the pilgrims of 1621, it has become the model for the traditional Thanksgiving celebrations in the United States.

Timeline of Thanksgiving in America

• 1541 - Spanish explorer, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, led a thanksgiving Communion celebration at the Palo Duro Canyon, West Texas.
• 1565 - Pedro Menendez de Aviles and 800 settlers gathered for a meal with the Timucuan Indians in the Spanish colony of St. Augustine, Florida.
• 1621 - Pilgrims and Native Americans celebrated a harvest feast in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
• 1630 - Settlers observed the first Thanksgiving of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in New England on July 8, 1630.
• 1777 - George Washington and his army on the way to Valley Forge, stopped in blistering weather in open fields to observe the first Thanksgiving of the new United States of America.

• 1789 - President Washington declared November 26, 1789, as a national day of "thanksgiving and prayer."
• 1800s - The annual presidential thanksgiving proclamations ceased for 45 years in the early 1800s.
• 1863 - President Abraham Lincoln resumed the tradition of Thanksgiving proclamations in 1863. Since this date, Thanksgiving has been observed annually in the United States.
• 1941 - President Roosevelt established the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.

According to an article in the New York Times, there’s reason to drink the java up.

Coffee fans rejoice: a new study ties drinking your morning fuel with a reduced risk of death.

The large study, published online Monday in the journal Circulation, found that consuming coffee is linked with a lower risk of dying from heart disease, stroke and diabetes, as well as

It hardly mattered whether the coffee was regular or decaf -- but the positive results only applied to nonsmokers, according to the Times.

Nonsmokers who drank a cup a day had a 6 percent reduced risk of death, the Times reported. One to three cups a day brought an 8 percent reduced risk, three to five cups had a 15 percent reduced risk, and more than 5 cups meant a 12 percent reduced risk.

The study tracked more than 200,000 nurses and doctors for up to 30 years.

Can’t Wait for the Future!

New Levitating Trains Could Get You from NYC to D.C. in an Hour

Based on an article by

Peter DeStefano on November 12, 2015

Imagine floating out of New York City and across the countryside on a levitating train. Sounds like something from a dream, right? 

Soon it may be a reality all across the region

A Washington, D.C. based company called The Northeast Maglev (TNEM) is heading a project to bring a superconducting magnetically levitating 300 mph train line to life in the most the most congested part of the country, the Northeast.

They are on their way with guidance from Maglev tech world leaders, Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central), as well as a $27.8 million grant from the Federal Railroad Administration. 

The design is similar to Japan’s world record-setting Tokyo-Osaka maglev (magnetic levitation) line that reaches 373 mph and would shoot from D.C. to NYC in one hour 

The concept of a superconducting magnetically levitating train was conceived by American physicists before undergoing 50 years of research and development overseas in Japan, and now it’s back to our shores, bringing us to the cutting edge of rail transport technology, speed, and even amenities.

Is going overboard during a cruise something you need to worry about?

 Okay, so many of you have put the boats in storage, and are now eyeing that inexpensive escape cruise this winter. But with headlines about people going overboard in abundance lately, one could think there’s an epidemic of people going overboard on cruises.

On Nov. 12, 2014, a woman aboard Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Pearl went overboard as the ship was sailing the Yucatan Channel between Mexico and Cuba. In a statement, the cruise line stated that during the chartered cruise, “a female guest was observed intentionally going overboard… The ship’s crew immediately initiated rescue measures, including deploying multiple rescue boats and notifying the Coast Guard and other relevant authorities.” The woman has not been found. 

That apparent suicide attempt came a week after a more high-profile incident that was caught on video when 35-year-old vacationer Bernardo Elbaz fell from Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas ship after clinging to a lifeboat as horrified fellow passengers looked on. His body hasn’t been found.

These stories highlight a scary reality of cruising: sometimes people fall overboard in cases that often end tragically. While there isn’t always dramatic video, these cases almost always make national news in a way that, for instance, accidents in hotels do not. All the hype about these man (and woman) overboard incidents may lead one to wonder how real the danger is.

What the numbers say

According to CruiseJunkie.com, which looks at passenger overboard incidents going back to 1995, there are now 26 reported cases of people going overboard so far in 2015. That’s the highest number since 2009, when there were 25. But 17.2 million people took cruises in `09, roughly 5 million fewer than this year. So it would appear the percentage of man overboard cases may actually be lower. Either way, the numbers don’t quite indicate that this is some kind of a cruise ship epidemic.ise ships are very uncommon,” Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), a cruise industry trade group, tells Yahoo Travel. In the average year, about 20 people fall off cruise ships. Compare that to the nearly 22 million people who cruised last year. That’s roughly one person going overboard for every one million cruise ship passengers.

Veterans Day, formerly known as Armistice Day, was originally set as a U.S. legal holiday to honor the end of World War I, which officially took place on November 11, 1918. In legislation that was passed in 1938, November 11 was "dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be hereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day.'" As such, this new legal holiday honored World War I veterans.

In 1954, after having been through both World War II and the Korean War, the 83rd U.S. Congress -- at the urging of the veterans service organizations -- amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word "Armistice" and inserting the word "Veterans." With the approval of this legislation on June 1, 1954, Nov. 11 became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.

In 1968, the Uniforms Holiday Bill ensured three-day weekends for federal employees by celebrating four national holidays
The first Veterans Day under the new law was observed with much confusion on Oct. 25, 1971.
Finally on September 20, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signed a law which returned the annual observance of Veterans Day to its original date of Nov. 11, beginning in 1978.