San Rafael, CA -– Assemblymember Jared Huffman will address participants of  Seaflow’s Vessel Watch Project at their launch event this Saturday, July 12 to support the need to increase protections for our coast and the ocean from the environmental impacts of shipping in the aftermath of the Cosco Busan oil spill. Volunteers from Vessel Watch Project, a volunteer citizen watch program, will sail to the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary and newly proposed state Marine Protected Areas to receive training to become “the ears and eyes of the ocean” for a day and learn how to monitor cargo ships entering and departing San Francisco Bay. With the help of an onboard naturalist and an acoustician from Scripps Marine Laboratory, they will use hydrophones to listen to and record sounds of whales, other marine mammals and wildlife, and the noise from large vessels that threaten them. Limited space is still available for media to join the voyage.  For more information visit: http://seaflow.org/article.php?id=787

Date:  Saturday, July 12, 2008

Time: 7:40am

Location: Gas House Cove Marina, 10 Marina Boulevard,San Francisco, CA

Attendees: Assemblymember Jared Huffman, Seaflow Executive Director Robert Ovetz, Ph.D., Vessel Watch Project scientific advisor Megan McKenna, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and 45 trip volunteers.