Morning Report: Fin Whale's Murderers Identified As Tuxedoed Killers

The Voice of San Diego

December 20, 2023

Scientists believe they’ve caught a break in the aquatic murder mystery of a fin whale that washed up on San Diego’s coast: killer whales.

MacKenzie Elmer writes that sharks were the early suspects, but whale experts have since matched the teenage fin whale’s injuries to the jawlines of orca whales.

While humans once hunted fin whales to near extinction, and to this day disrupt marine life with hazards like ships and fishing gear, orcas are fin whales’ only active predators. Orca pods have also been repeatedly sighted in local waters, sometimes tail-smacking dolphins out of the ocean, giving the carnivores means, motive and proximity to the crime.

With the murder seemingly solved, attention has been turned to disposing of the unwieldy carcass. Lifeguards towed it out to sea, but a buildup of gasses allowed the whale’s remains to drift back toward shore. They then had to tow it further out. It’s now floating some 50 nautical miles off the coast of Baja California.

But even as the book is closed on this murder, populations of marine species, like fin whales, are dwindling. Even some types of fearsome killer whales are endangered.

Read the entire story here.

While Congress packs up to head home for the holidays, Rep. Scott Peters is still pushing for the money San Diego needs to plug sewage spilling into the Pacific Ocean at the border.

Peters sent a letter to House leaders signed by a contingent of Democrats, Republicans and former U.S. Navy SEALS urging $310 million be spent on fixing a broken plant run by the federal government that’s exacerbating beach closures in San Diego.

President Joe Biden included the money in a supplemental funding request, meaning it can be tacked on pretty much anywhere in the federal budget as long as both houses of Congress eventually pass it.

Voice of San Diego first broke the fact that a treatment plant run by the International Boundary and Water Commission was in such disrepair, it’s undertreating sewage it takes on from the city of Tijuana. The undertreated effluent from the plant, which eventually spills into the Pacific Ocean, violates the Clean Water Act.

Ordinarily, wastewater treatment plants are funded by billing residents that rely on them. But this plant is government-owned and requires the painstaking process of Congressional appropriation to keep it in ship shape.

San Diego’s a difficult place to make it as a band. The city’s artistic ecosystem is stunted and perpetually wilting in the shadow of its big brother, Los Angeles. It’s hard to make it in a city whose audiences can’t support a band actually trying to make it, so LA ends up drawing creatives and those that value creativity from our sleepy hamlet to its star-studded streets like the Death Star’s tractor beam.

But San Diego also suffers from economic realities that exacerbate the difficulty: simply put, it’s expensive as hell, which makes ditching the day job to tour that much harder. The internet’s changed some of these calculations, but one thing remains the same, “making it,” (whatever that means anymore) doesn’t often come easy. That’s why it’s an absolute joy to see bands like Well Well Well, who have been putting in the work for years.

Well Well Well, “Brunch Lake”: I first caught wind of Well Well Well back in 2016, with the release of the band’s album “What Do We Have Here?” It’s an absolutely delightful mix of psychedelic-tinged indie rock that showcases the band’s range and sonic vision, while also demonstrating its lighthearted approach. Well Well Well’s since put out a steady stream of similarly excellent albums, but I still can’t get that debut release out of my head. “Brunch Lake,” is one of my standouts. It’s a driving and relentlessly catchy track whose initial darkness unfolds into a cathartic chorus, like the sun breaking the moment the sun breaks through a wall of clouds.

Like what you hear? Check out Well Well Well at Casbah on Thursday, December 21.

Do you have a “Song of the Week” suggestion? Shoot us an email and a sentence or two about why you’ve been bumping this song lately. Friendly reminder: all songs should be by local artists.

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