Commentary By Ron Beasley
The Pacific Ocean off the Oregon coast is usually about 50 to 55 degrees this time of year. Not really great for swimming and the surfers wear wet suits. The good news is this summer it's running almost 70 degrees making it a lot better for swimming. The bad news is you still can't swim in it because with the warmer temperatures we have great white sharks.
Sharks prompt warning at Seaside
Seaside police officers drove up and down the beach Sunday and used loudspeakers to warn people that sharks had been sighted.
"On Saturday night a lifeguard came across a porpoise that had been bitten up," said Lt. Dave Ham of the Seaside Police Department. "On Sunday the lifeguards saw a dorsal fin. To them it was distinctive, and the decision was made to warn people."
Ham said they did not close the beach.
"We wanted to warn people," he said, "and let people make their own decision."
Ham said he talked with officials at the Seaside aquarium and was told that warm ocean water has moved closer to the shore, bringing in seals and porpoises, which then attract the sharks, believed to be great whites.
The U.S. Coast Guard planned to fly over the coastline at Seaside last night to see whether sharks could be spotted.
"The sharks are along the entire West Coast, " said Victoria Caloca, petty officer first class. "But it is rare to see them here."
And now for the ugly:
Shark caught off Oregon Coast confirmed as a Great White
Biologists at the Hatfield Marine Science Center Monday confirmed a Great White was caught by fishermen aboard a ship out of Depoe Bay.
This has been a strange summer. While the east coast and the midwest were cold and wet we here in the Pacific Northwest suffered through a record heat spell with temperatures reaching 106 in Portland two days in a row. The wind patterns also changed, This time of the year a north wind normally prevails which causes the upwelling of cold water from the deeps keeping the water cold. This year those north winds have been absent.
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