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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2015
Toxic algae blooming
in warm water from
California to Alaska
By PHUONG LE
Associated Press
SEATTLE — A vast
bloom of toxic algae off the
West Coast is denser, more
widespread and deeper than
scientists feared even weeks
ago, according to surveyors
aboard a National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administra-
tion research vessel.
This coastal ribbon of mi-
croscopic algae, up to 40 miles
wide and 650 feet deep in
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temperatures. It now stretch-
es from at least California to
Alaska and has shut down
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managers on Tuesday dou-
bled the area off Washington’s
coast that is closed to Dunge-
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elevated levels of marine tox-
ins in tested crab meat.
So-called “red tides” are
cyclical and have happened
many times before, but ocean
researchers say this one is
much larger and persisting
much longer, with higher
levels of neurotoxins bring-
ing severe consequences for
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coastal tourism and marine
ecosystems.
Dan Ayres, coastal shell-
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ington Department of Fish
and Wildlife, said the area
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includes more than half the
state’s 157-mile-long coast,
and likely will bring a pre-
mature end to this year’s crab
season.
one’s mind is whether this
is related to global climate
change. The simple answer
is that it could be, but at this
point it’s hard to separate the
variations in these cycles,”
said Donald Boesch, profes-
sor of marine science at the
University of Maryland who
is not involved in the survey.
“Maybe the cycles are more
extreme in the changing cli-
mate.”
“There’s no question
that we’re seeing more algal
blooms more often, in more
places, when they do occur,
they’re lasting longer and
often over greater geographi-
cal areas. We’re seeing more
events than documented de-
cades ago,” said Pat Glibert,
professor at Horn Point Lab-
oratory, University of Mary-
land Center for Environmen-
tal Science.
Odell recently complet-
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mostly in California waters.
On Wednesday, researchers
plan to continue monitoring
the sea between Newport
and Seattle. The vessel will
then go to Vancouver Island,
wrapping up in early Septem-
ber. Another research ship is
taking samples off Alaska.
Particularly thick off
Santa Barbara
The brownish bloom was
particularly thick off the coast
of Santa Barbara, Calif., and
Odell said it was unusually
dominated by one type of al-
gae called Pseudo-nitzschia,
which can produce the neuro-
toxin domoic acid.
“It’s an indication of an
First detected in May imbalance,” said Vera Train-
“We think it’s just sitting er, a research oceanographer
and lingering out there,” said with the Northwest Fisheries
Anthony Odell, a University Science Center in Seattle.
of Washington research ana- “Too much of any one thing
lyst who is part of a
is not healthy for anybody to
NOAA-led team survey- eat.”
ing the harmful algae bloom,
Trainer said this bloom
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May. “It’s farther offshore, 20 years of studying them.
but it’s still there.”
Harmful algal blooms have
The survey data should usually been limited to one
provide a clearer picture of area of the ocean or another,
what is causing the bloom and have disappeared after
which is brownish in color, a few weeks. This one has
unlike the blue and green al- grown for months, waxing
gae found in polluted fresh- and waning but never going
water lakes. Marine detec- away.
tives already have a suspect:
“It’s been incredibly thick,
a large patch of water running almost all the same organism.
as much as 3 degrees centi- Looks like a layer of hay,”
grade warmer than normal in said Raphael Kudela, a pro-
WKH QRUWKHDVW 3DFL¿F 2FHDQ fessor of ocean sciences at
nicknamed “the blob.”
University of California, San-
“The question on every- ta Cruz.
Kathy Aney/East Orgonian
In this photo taken Sunday, Gary Morris, a racehorse owner and trainer from Bend, smiles at one of his thoroughbreds
in Pendleton, at the NEIGH-bors horse hotel. The brakes and transmission on Morris’ truck failed as he descended
Cabbage Hill Saturday afternoon towing a horse trailer with three thoroughbreds.
Racehorses survive scary, sweaty
ride through eastern Oregon
Tale involved
Ex, Gypsy and a
dark bay called
Seattle Diner
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — After a
harrowing ride down Cabbage
Hill with failed brakes and
three thoroughbreds, a Bend
man won’t soon forget his
Pendleton adventure.
Gary Morris, a racehorse
owner and trainer, was wind-
ing his way down the steep
section of Interstate 84 Satur-
day afternoon in a three-quar-
ter-ton truck hauling a horse
trailer. Morris was transporting
the trio of horses from a race
in Boise, Idaho, and heading
to another in Tillamook. As
he neared a 45-mile-per-hour
curve, he applied his brakes.
Nothing.
“The brakes just left,” Mor-
ris said. “I pumped them and
nothing happened.”
Morris dropped into sec-
ond gear, but slowed little. He
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hear an ear-shattering squeal
as the Ford’s transmission
gave out.
“I had no transmission and
no brakes,” he said.
Fortunately, his trailer
brakes and emergency brake
still functioned. Morris, 78,
managed to keep the speed
below 70 miles-per-hour as
he made it safely to Pendle-
ton exit 216 near the Arrow-
head Travel Plaza. As soon
as his adrenaline subsided,
he turned his attention to his
cargo. With the mercury hov-
ering around 105 degrees, the
valuable thoroughbreds were
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turned racehorse owner, wor-
ried about the well-being of
his horses.
“They were number one,”
he said.
About that time, Morris
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Pendleton hospitality.
“A guy and his wife stopped
by in their pickup and pulled
me to Kenworth,” he said.
With disappointment, he
learned the truck sales and
repair business worked on
only large commercial trucks.
Service Manager Josh Payne,
however, gave approval to
move the horse trailer into the
repair shop.
“The horses were drenched
with sweat. The (Kenworth
people) pulled me into one of
the bays and got the horses
into the shade. They got three
huge fans going,” Morris said.
“Without that, the horses might
even have died right there.”
“The horses were shaky
and upset,” Payne said.
A predicament
Kenworth employees pro-
vided water for Morris’ three
Boston terriers and showed the
horse trainer to an air-condi-
tioned lounge where he could
use a computer to search for a
rental truck with a gooseneck
hitch. After making a string
of fruitless calls, he dialed the
number of the NEIGH-bors
horse hotel, owned by Mary
Alice Ridgway.
“I called Mary Alice and
told her I was in a predica-
ment,” Morris said. “From
there, everything was roses.”
Ridgway and her friend
Bev Kopperud arrived short-
ly, hooked Morris’s trailer
to Kopperud’s Ford 350 and
headed to Ridgway’s horse
hotel. When Morris unload-
ed his thoroughbreds, the two
women gazed with admiration
at equine perfection.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God.’
They were so beautiful,” Kop-
perud said. “They were pranc-
ing and happy to be out of the
trailer.”
The group included two
chestnuts named Ex and
Gypsy and a dark bay called
Seattle Diner. All have won
their share of races, Morris
said.
Ridgway installed Morris
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over the stalls.
A truck for
thoroughbreds
The next morning, col-
leagues from Morris’ horse
farm arrived with a truck to
pull the thoroughbreds back
to Bend. Morris said he won’t
soon forget the kindness he
found in Round-Up City. His
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the praise.
“You do what’s right,”
Payne said. “You treat people
the way you’d want to be treat-
ed.”
Kopperud and Ridgway
agreed.
“It’s not extraordinary to
help people,” Kopperud said.
“It’s what you do.”
W h o’s n ext in lin e?
Ever y d a y Pe o ple