Last week, in conjunction with a local shark sighting, I mentioned KHUM’s Coastal Currents interview with great white expert Adam Brown. The info remains especially timely as Brown, Ray Palacios and Jeff Jacobsen recently deployed receivers near Trinidad Head in anticipation of white sharks returning to California. Now, while Humboldt may not celebrate “Sharktober” as enthusiastically as our friends in San Francisco, Humboldt Surfrider, Humboldt Baykeeper and Ocean Conservancy plan to dedicate our Friday, Oct. 11 Ocean Night to celebrating these amazing creatures — mark your calendars accordingly.

Garbage dumped near Humboldt Bay

But a far more immediate and significant threat to our health than sharks* is ocean pollution. Accordingly, Coastal Cleanup Day happens this Saturday, Sept. 21. Hosted locally by the Northcoast Environmental Center and globally by Ocean Conservancy, Coastal Cleanup Day is a chance to not only clean up Humboldt’s beaches, riverbanks and bayfronts, but to contribute to an ongoing database of the most common litter offenders. 

Now I realized recently that some folks, surprisingly, are pro trash, but for those who prefer a cleaner ocean, safer beaches and a more beautiful world, here’s a couple excellent opportunities:

• Join Humboldt Baykeeper at the foot of Del Norte Street at 10 a.m. to clean up the pier area. RSVP to volunteer@humboldtbaykeeper.org.
• Join Humboldt Surfrider at the North Jetty at 9 a.m. to clean up the end of the Samoa peninsula.

Hopefully the storm predicted to roll in tomorrow will have abdicated by Saturday — but even if we have a little rain, hope to see folks out there before all the North Country Fair-ing! 

*Again, shark encounters are rare, shark attacks even less frequent and as a species, we do infinitely more harm to them than they do to us.