Why Ocean Shores Beachcombing Is a Blast

Alaska’s Warm Winter, Development Disruption,
and Unexpected Beach Finds

We are pleased to let you know that on Wednesday evening at the Digital Publishing Awards in Toronto we had two winners. In the Best Science and Technology Storytelling category, Sasha Chapman won gold for “The Noose Beneath the Waves.” In this story, Chapman took a close look at the frequency and painful severity of whale entanglements and at the dangerous work undertaken by those who dare to help. News outlets had reported on the 17 right whale deaths in 2017, one after the other, but this story dove much deeper into the issue of entanglement and considered the broader impact on whale populations. The story questioned the politics behind disentanglement and explored solutions. The result is a masterfully crafted and haunting longform article.

In the Best Arts and Culture Storytelling category, Brian Payton took home the silver award for “The Oracle of Oyster River.” This story profiled Father Charles Brant, a Catholic hermit on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, and his efforts to save his hermitage for those who wish to follow in his eco-theologian footsteps. Following our article, Father Charles and government officials signed legal agreements to protect the land in perpetuity.

When we launched Hakai Magazine four years ago, one of our goals was to bring you some of the best written stories around. Awards are only one small indicator of success, but we take them as encouragement that we’re on the right track.

Hakai Magazine is free and ad-free, and we put as much of our budget toward stories as possible, which means we rely heavily on the marketing power of word of mouth. Please take a moment and share us with friends and family.

Dave Garrison
Publisher

This Week’s Stories

Why Ocean Shores Beachcombing Is a Blast

Collectors at this year’s beachcombing fair in a Washington town had something surprising to put on display.

by Katrina Pyne and Amorina Kingdon • 6 mins

Feeling the Heat in Winter

This year in Alaska, an abnormal rise in temperature has, like in much of the north, disrupted isolated communities, upset subsistence hunting patterns, and even led to some deaths.

by Tim Lydon • 950 words / 4 mins

Boat Motors Speed Up Metabolism in Fish Embryos

Noise pollution interrupts the normal growth and development of fish embryos.

by Grant Currin • 600 words / 3 mins

Coastal Job: Island Pest Detector

Miriam Ritchie and her troop of terriers help battle invasive species on New Zealand’s small coastal islands.

As told to Brent Crane • 700 words / 3 mins

Sea Urchins Stress Out

Handling and tagging an urchin for research can impair its ability to avoid predators.

by Jenny Howard • 400 words / 2 mins

This Week’s Audio

The Whale Dying on the Mountain

As the Comox Glacier disappears so does part of the local culture.

by J. B. MacKinnon • 22 mins • Listen here or with your podcast app

What We’re Reading

Ever wonder what foreign shore is directly across the ocean from your little patch of coast? This handy map will tell you. (Hakai’s offices would meet Russia across the Pacific.) (Mental Floss)

A radiation containment dome from American nuclear testing is leaking on the Marshall Islands, leading to radioactive clams. (Los Angeles Times)

Keep your eyes out for this lost superyacht. (gCaptain)

Male northern elephant seals have local dialects when it comes to their threat calls. And some dialects are changing as the elephant seal population fluctuates, just as language patterns do in humans. The threat calls help seals evaluate each other before it comes to blows over mates. (The Atlantic)

In Stockholm county, a bokbåten (or library boat) visits island communities twice a year to deliver library books. A Scandinavian tradition in places with many island residents, recent cuts have librarians worried the boats are living on borrowed time. (Literary Hub)

A US $38-million plan called for 40 kilometers of dredged new channels and countless salt grass seedlings to save 40,00 acres of Delaware’s coastal wetland. Did it work? (Yale Environment 360)

A country music cruise ship journey gets rowdy. (Bitter Southerner)

A new generation of Russian icebreakers is preparing for a warmer and more accessible Arctic. (The Guardian)

Behind the Story

Video editor Katrina Pyne (above left) reflects on stumbling across her story “Why Ocean Shores Beachcombing Is a Blast” at a festival in Washington State.

When Ami Kingdon and I piled into her Corolla for our (highly anticipated) road trip through Washington State’s Twilight-fan territory for the Beachcombers Fun Fair in Ocean Shores, we figured we were in for a relaxing weekend of strolling on the beach and contemplating the interconnectivity of our planet. We were not expecting unexploded ordnance. But we realized we had a story on our hands when locals told us the US Army was blowing up piles of old anti-aircraft shells on the beach. The bone-shaking blasts in the middle of the night caused nearby homes to shake. And after a bit of asking around, we discovered that lots of people had found these munitions on the beach! Everyone had a theory about where they came from and why so many were now washing up.

The sorts of things that wash up on the beach are pretty amazing, even when ordnance isn’t stealing the spotlight: tsunami debris, rat poison canisters, bicycles, and messages in bottles from school-aged kids all around the world. Some finds are treasures, some are trash, and some finds just leave you scratching your head. One fair goer told us he’d once found containers full of used EpiPens! The beachcombers fair certainly did not disappoint. It truly was a BLAST—in more ways than one.

From Our Coast to Yours

Steven’s hermit crabs think snail shells are so passé. Sponge homes are the hottest new habitation of choice.

The aptly named hermit crab sponge (Suberites suberea) attaches to an empty snail shell and slowly dissolves the calcium carbonate until sponge is all that’s left. Steven’s hermit crabs seem to love these hollowed-out sponges for their mobile homes.

Photo by Matt Whalen

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