Skip to main content
Donate

Shark Attack Prompts Warning at Santa Barbara Beaches

By Zach Behrens
July 24, 2012
Support Provided By
The sea lion on the left, attacked by a shark in recent days, looks sad. | Photo: Courtesy of Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol
The sea lion on the left, attacked by a shark in recent days, looks sad. | Photo: Courtesy of Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol

A recent, non-fatal shark attack on a sea lion has prompted Santa Barbara officials to post warning signs at city beaches today. The attack, confirmed as from a great white shark by the Santa Barbara Marine Mammal Center, likely occurred in recent days, but officials were notified this morning, putting into action new protocol for such events.

"If this was a human attack, we would have closed the beaches," said Mick Kronman, Harbor Operations Manager. "But because this was an attack on a marine mammal, we're just advising people to swim at their own risk." He said signs would be taken down after 72 hours if there are no shark additional sightings, encounters, or attacks.

Today marks the first time the city has launched a new standing operating procedure, which was developed after a similar attack on a sea lion off Stearns Wharf a few months ago. "We think it's good public policy," noted Kronman.

Marine mammals like sea lions are a normal part of a great white shark's diet.

Support Provided By
Read More
An oil pump painted white with red accents stands mid-pump on a dirt road under a blue, cloudy sky with a green, grassy slope in the background.

California’s First Carbon Capture Project: Vital Climate Tool or License to Pollute?

California’s first attempt to capture and sequester carbon involves California Resources Corp. collecting emissions at its Elk Hills Oil and Gas Field, and then inject the gases more than a mile deep into a depleted oil reservoir. The goal is to keep carbon underground and out of the atmosphere, where it traps heat and contributes to climate change. But some argue polluting industries need to cease altogether.
By Alejandro Lazo, CalMatters
Gray industrial towers and stacks rise up from behind the pitched roofs of warehouse buildings against a gray-blue sky, with a row of yellow-gold barrels with black lids lined up in the foreground to the right of a portable toilet.

California Isn't on Track To Meet Its Climate Change Mandates. It's Not Even Close.

According to the annual California Green Innovation Index released by Next 10 last week, California is off track from meeting its climate goals for the year 2030, as well as reaching carbon neutrality by 2045.
By Alejandro Lazo, CalMatters
A row of cows stands in individual cages along a line of light-colored enclosures, placed along a dirt path under a blue sky dotted with white puffy clouds.

A Battle Is Underway Over California’s Lucrative Dairy Biogas Market

California is considering changes to a program that has incentivized dairy biogas, to transform methane emissions into a source of natural gas. Neighbors are pushing for an end to the subsidies because of its impact on air quality and possible water pollution.
By Emma Foehringer Merchant, Inside Climate News