I’ve been following this oil spill, it should be called an oil gusher.  Since the day it started (4/20)  this thing has gotten way out of hand.   As I write , thousands of gallons of raw crude oil is gushing, not spilling,  into the Gulf of Mexico.  If you know anything about the Gulf or the East Coast you might of heard of the loop current or the gulf stream that runs up the east coast.  As i predicted days after the catastrophe that oil would make its way to the Atlantic at some point, I  just did know  when or how fast.  But I knew it was bound to happen.  Well almost one month into this disaster, as the oil still gushes out of the well head that they cant shut off, the oil is moving closer and closer to our beaches but it hasn’t left the Gulf just yet.

So far there is no end in sight sadly, and with that there is no doubt the oil will make it to the Atlantic and up to east coast to us. I don’t know how concerned you are but this is worrying the hell out of me not just for our beaches but for all of the animals, sea turtles, birds, marine life & wetlands that are going to be affected by this mess for many many years to come. Don’t forget about us as well!  We are surfers, most of us live at the beach, the ocean is our home.  This will change the way we do things for a very very long time.   If the worst case scenario happens, even though it has for the planet, but for our coast we can only  hope for the best and prepare for the worst. With that said I’ll be posting some videos below about what is going on.

If you want to understand how and why all of this happened I encourage you to watch the 60 minutes episode that was just released yesterday. After watching that without a doubt you will be very upset once you find out what how and why this happened and how negligent British Petroleum (BP) and the rig operator acted when it came down to the choice between money and oil or safety. PLEASE WATCH IT!  Knowledge is a very powerful tool. The more info you know and the more people that know the truth, the stronger as a whole we become!

A News Clip From NBC About The Oil Reaching The Atlantic

Big Thanks To The Chopper 16 Crew Capt. Willy & Chopper Chuck!

Ocean City From The Air

]]> http://oceancitysurfreport.com/2010/04/proud-to-serve-ocean-city-chopper-16-wboc-news/feed/ 1 http://oceancitysurfreport.com/2010/03/weather-dashboard-2-0-released/ http://oceancitysurfreport.com/2010/03/weather-dashboard-2-0-released/#comments Thu, 25 Mar 2010 19:19:59 +0000 Mick http://oceancitysurfreport.com/?p=1169 Earlier this morning i released the new version of the weather dashboard 2.0!  The new dashboard features a new one page design and a few new maps using Google Maps with Radar, Satellite &  other Weather Data to provide you the most advanced weather viewing experience around you can enter your address and zoom right into your street and see what the weather is doing right over your house no more guessing involved ! The new design will make it even faster and easier to check all the weather, surf & atmospheric data in seconds no more waiting for pages to load now they load right away at the click of a button! Check it out and leave some feedback! Here are a few pictures below of the new look and tools! Remember you have to be a OC Surf Report member to view and use the dashboard so sign up its free!

Check Out The Dashboard 2.0 Now!

Posted: March 23rd - Updated: March 31st

A 61-foot fin whale washed ashore on Fenwick Island on Friday, March 19.

The whale was first reported on Wednesday, March 17, by the Coast Guard vessels about 4.5 miles off the Indian River Inlet. The whale continued to drift and altered its course over the next few days.

“It was kind of a challenge,” said Suzanne Thurman, executive director of MERR Institute. “We were tracking it, but due to wind direction and surface currents, it made it hard to estimate where and if she was going to land.”

The beaching marked the largest whale MERR (Marine Education Research and Rehabilitation) has responded to, and largest whale to wash up on Delaware shores in recorded history.

“It appears that there has been trauma, but have to wait and see until we can better look,” Thurman said. Unfortunately, that look fell on a day marked by heavy rain and thunderstorms and expected gale force winds along the coast, which makes the process of a necropsy on the large mammal even more dangerous and difficult.

During the days from the initial beaching to its removal, MERR volunteers took shifts standing with the body in order to answer questions from the throng of visitors to see the large creature. Thurman and a group of MERR volunteers, along with crew members of the Division of Soil and Water all assisted in moving and preparing the whale for the necropsy on Monday, March 22. “Of course, our volunteers, as always, have been great, and the state has been more than cooperative and helpful for this not-so-pleasant task,” Thurman said.

“It is always tragedy to see such a beautiful animal wash up on shore,” she added.”The best we can do is to try to find out what happened to her. It’s physically grueling to deal with an animals this size and I can’t thank the volunteers enough who endure these weather conditions.”

This marks the second whale to wash up on local shores in recent week, with a 10-ton humpback whale beaching on March 15 in Ocean City, Maryland. The result of the young female humpback was determined to have suffered a head trauma, most likely caused by coming in contact with a boat.”The majority of these animals have died or become injured or ill because the impact of human behavior, so the least we can do is try to find out more about it when it washes ashore,” Thurman said.

The fin whale is the second-largest animal on the planet, behind only the blue whale. The fin whale can grow to more than 80 feet in length and live into its 90s. The endangered mammal is a baleen whale, which means it does not have teeth, but rather filters its food through its mouth, feeding mainly on small fish and crustaceans.

It is known as the “greyhound of the sea,” as its slender body enables it to propel its massive frame up to 25 miles an hour.

For more information on the non-profit MERR Institute and find out ways to help, visit www.merrinstitute.org, To report a sea mammal stranding, call the MERR Hotline at 302.228.5029

Huge thanks to MERR for providing the photo’s and press release ! Thanks guys!

Update on the washed up Fin Whale in Fenwick Island looks like there was head trauma & a fractured skull, most likely a large ship.

Also this week there was a beached Grey Seal that stranded himself, It appeared that the seal was sick and was seeking help Ocean City Animal Control was called and responded within minutes quickly blocking off the area and giving the seal some room to relax. Biologists with the Baltimore Aquarium were called on Monday and were sent to 43rd street to check on the seal on Tuesday, By then it was to late the seal had gone back in to the ocean after spending more then 3 days out of water more then likely it had ate some kind of trash in the water. No one knows the fate of the seal OC Animal Control said these are some of the more aggressive types of seals that live in our area but this one was so sick you could get within feet of him and he wouldn’t bother you showing how sick he really was.  Hopefully it will pop back up on our shore so they can take a look at him. Defiantly two odd and sad story’s this week both involving marine life. Big Thanks To Greg Leister For Sharing The Whale Photo’s With OC Surf Report!

Written by Mick Chester

Keep updated on this story and other local news you wont see on wboc! With Twitter! Follow us! OCMDSurfReport

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The ASR is short for Action Sports Retailer its a big Surf/Skate/Snow  Traidshow held in San Diego twice a year its closed to the public and open to the big names like Quicksilver, Billabong, Reef, Lost, Volcom, Element  and the list goes on! there’s is going to be tons of action going on make sure you check out the mobile video broadcast for live streaming coverage from the show! Want a taste of the past show in August watch the video below ?

Town leaders met to discuss the bidding process for contractors Monday, according to McGean.

Town officials say the beach fared well after last weekend’s winter storm.

However, even after January’s partial replenishment, the beach will have to wait for a total beach re-nourishment program to begin in the spring.

Until then, town leaders say Ocean City remains protected by its dune system, even though the beach lost hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of sand from a November nor’easter.

Emergency Services Director Joe Theobald said he doesn’t expect any part of the dune system to fail or be breached by ocean water from any more potential storms, but he said the town is prepared to respond just in case.

“We are not concerned should there be a minor breach,” Theobald said. ”We don’t expect it to take place, and if it did, we will mitigate it and take actions internally that are necessary to protect the rest of the city.”

WBOC NEWS BROADCAST

McGean said the Army Corps of Engineers completed an initial survey of the beach damage over the weekend, and presented a report to the town Monday.

McGean said that in the next 60 days, crews will relocate about 50,000 cubic yards of excess sand that has since piled up in areas like around the boardwalk. That sand will be used to fill in parts of the damaged dune system.

However, according to McGean, the rest of the damaged beach will have to wait to be replenished until May. That is when crews will dredge an area off Ocean City’s coast to retrieve sand to repair the beach and accommodate a previously-scheduled periodic beach replenishment project.  Overall, 1.4 million cubic yards of sand will be replaced.

“Once we get the dunes patched up, I’ll feel very comfortable that we could withstand another storm, but again we are certainly more vulnerable than we would be if we had a full beach and dunes,” McGean said.

The total estimated cost of the replenishment in May is about $21 million, according to McGean. The town is asking the federal government to pay for half of that, with the rest coming from a city, county, and state beach replenishment fund.