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In a world where everyone who ever crossed the threshold of a craft store now sells handcrafted jewelry on a web site, one humble metalsmith's feeble attempt at getting some attention....

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Harbor Porpoises - Score One for Mother Nature

How cool is this?  After being driven out during World War II and staying away for more than 60 years, Harbor Porpoises have returned to the San Francisco Bay and are now hanging out along the southern coast of Marin County.

Here's a great shot by William Keener, who has been studying them, of a harbor porpoise near the Golden Gate Bridge:


Seems that those pesky mines and submarine nets that the US put in the waters around San Francisco during the Second World War made it tough for these cute little critters to wander in to the Bay for snacks.  Word got out - you know how porpoises like to gossip - that the neighborhood had gone downhill, and once a place gets a bad rep no one wants to come around.

We humans cleaned up our act a bit, and it's paying off.  There are a lot of fish and crab here now, and the porpoises have decided to give us another chance.  Welcome back kids, stick around this time!

Read more in this article from the Marin IJ about our return guests that includes additional pictures by Bill Keener:   Marin IJ Porpoise Article

One lucky person sighted a porpoise from the the Golden Gate Bridge.

2 comments:

  1. That's wonderful. I have been to San Francisco, a long time ago, I would have loved to see porpoises, how wonderful that they are back!

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  2. This is SO very cool!! Great post!

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