11A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 2015
-HOO\¿VK People should never feel foolish for reporting a potential spill
Continued from Page 1A
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masses made up of millions of
small purple and blue by-the-
wind sailors, or Velella velella.
The reports came from
credible people, experienced
mariners familiar with the ap-
pearance and hazards of oil
spills, said Coast Guard Lieu-
tenant Commander John Titch-
en, chief of the incident man-
agement division for Sector
Columbia River. He supervis-
es the Coast Guard’s pollution
response efforts on the Colum-
bia River, along the Oregon
coast and along a portion of
the Washington coast.
“Even to experienced mar-
iners, it really has the proper-
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in a phone interview Friday.
To mariners aboard a boat
and Coast Guard respond-
ers hovering 500 feet up in a
Jayhawk helicopter, the dark
masses of Velella perfectly
mimicked the appearance of
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long, narrow, wavy strands and
even appeared to bubble and
froth as they rode the swells.
Though the Coast Guard
has seen this in the past, they
have never had so many calls
in a single year before.
Oil or jelly?
Titchen estimates the Coast
Guard Sector Columbia River
responds to approximately 250
pollution hazard calls in a typ-
ical year.
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they have responded to only
eight calls where reported oil
slicks turned out to be Velella.
So this year’s unusually high
number of reports in a two-
month period has acted as a
sort of training ground.
Titchen said they quick-
ly are learning what kind of
questions to ask when a report
comes in. For example: Can
you smell diesel? The Velella
have their own special aroma,
DNLQGRI¿VK\EULQ\VWHQFK
Titchen said they also know
now that they are more likely
to encounter the Velella near
headlands and jetties.
“We can put two and two
together,” he said.
Still, oil spills are serious.
Even if the “oil slick” just
WXUQV RXW WR EH MHOO\¿VK SHR-
ple should never feel foolish
for calling the Coast Guard to
report a potential spill, he said.
“Certainly what we don’t
want to do is have people jump
Courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard
to the conclusion, ‘Oh, I’m just Photographed from a helicopter flying at an elevation of about 500 feet, Velella or “by-the-wind-sailors” form such
VHHLQJMHOO\¿VKVR,ZRQ¶WFDOO dense bands that they are routinely being mistaken for oil spills.
the Coast Guard,’” Titchen
said. “Very experienced mari-
The creatures glide along warm-temperate waters in
ners are reporting these.”
the top of the ocean using a the open ocean and are found
stiff, clear, triangular sale that in oceans around the world.
rises vertically from their body Though they are lumped in
Big year, but
with the same group, Cnidar-
and catches the wind.
common occurrence
Though electric blue or LDWKDWLQFOXGHVMHOO\¿VKFRUDO
Piles of dead or dying
by-the-wind sailors are a even purple while alive, they and sea anenomes, they are not
common sight on most Ore- quickly dry up and bleach closely related to the common
gon and Washington beach- white when driven onto land PRRQMHOO\¿VK
Researchers say the crea-
es during spring, and even by wind and sea swells.
According to Oregon tures thrive in the warmer wa-
during winter.
Last year, people walking Sea Grant, the short-lived, ters associated with the build
along Oregon and Washing- quick-breeding creatures are up to an El Niño year. NOAA’s
ton beaches commented on easily overpowered by strong Climate Prediction Center
LAURA MULLINNIEX-DAVIS photo
the vast numbers of Velella winds. Offshore and tropical declared a weak El Niño this Small purple and blue by-the-wind sailors, or Velella velel-
carpeting the sand. By many storms can drive them toward March and predict strong El la have washed up on Oregon’s North Coast and south-
Niño conditions for later in the west Washington beaches in vast numbers in recent
accounts, this year was equally the coast by the millions.
Velella thrive in warm and year.
big.
years, including this one.
Body cams: ‘... Everybody behaves better when they are on camera’
Continued from Page 1A
Ultimately, a judge would
determine what is in the “public
interest,” which is a common
legal balancing test applied to
materials under Oregon’s pub-
lic records law.
But requests must be“reason-
ably tailored”to the approximate
date and time of an incident,
and the video must be edited to
make all faces unrecognizable.
Oregon law bars agencies
from disclosing photographs of
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although agencies themselves
can use them.
Rep.
Lew
Frederick,
D-Portland, said the bill is not
meant to single out police con-
duct.
“It’s also because every-
body behaves better when they
are on camera,” said Frederick,
a former television reporter and
the only black member of the
House.
“What has been shown in
communities across the country
where these devices have been
used is that both complaints and
the types of incidents that lead
to complaints are reduced.”
The House also passed a
companion bill that makes it
clear it is legal for people to re-
cord a conversation with a po-
OLFH RI¿FHU SHUIRUPLQJ RI¿FLDO
duties in a public place.
“It does not give permission
to anyone to interfere with po-
lice work,” said Frederick, the
bill’s chief sponsor. “It only
allows people to record a con-
versation that they are already
permitted to hear.”
While Oregon law already
DOORZV ¿OP RU YLGHR RI VXFK
encounters, the bill allows an
exception to a longstanding
ban under which a third party
cannot record a conversation
without consent of either partic-
ipant. Already exempted from
that ban are recordings made at
public meetings.
Police have raised questions
about whether the bill would
allow others to eavesdrop on
undercover operations or inter-
views with witnesses.
Rep. Jeff Barker, D-Aloha,
said the bill’s language would
be further changed in the Sen-
ate to foreclose those possibil-
ities.
“We just need to straighten
out this little piece of the law so
that it’s all legal,” said Barker,
a retired Portland police lieu-
tenant.
House Bill 2704 moved to
the Senate on a 51-8 vote.
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO Me-
dia Group and Pamplin Media
Group.
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