Whale Trapped Inside Nova Scotia Tidal Power Plant (?!?!)

[hatrack]

ANNAPOLIS ROYAL, Nova Scotia — "A hydroelectric plant in Nova Scotia has been shut down after a wayward whale swam through the facility's underwater gates in the Atlantic Ocean.

Officials said the 6-meter (20-foot) humpback was chasing a school of herring late Monday when it passed through the sluice gates of the Annapolis Tidal Power Plant, which generates electricity from the flow of the Bay of Fundy's record-high tides.

The whale was still trapped in the plant's so-called head pond by late Tuesday. Officials have asked boaters to stay away from the area.

"The whale made some attempts to go back to the gates, but the presence of boaters may have been a distraction," said Margaret Murphy, spokeswoman for Nova Scotia Power. Murphy said the utility is working with federal fisheries officials in a bid to coax the mammal through the facility's 9-meter-wide (30-foot-wide) gates and back into the bay."

EDIT

http://www.enn.com/news/2004-08-25/s_26694.asp

[phantom power]

1. Ban tidal power! Ban tidal power!

(sorry, couldn't help myself)

[hatrack]

2. Nuke The Unborn Gay Whales!!

:evilgrin:

[htuttle]

3. OMG! It's not wearing an explosive bomb belt, is it?

Terrorist Whales!
Suicide Whales!

[PeaceForever]

4. This is probably the cost we have to bear for clean power.

Just like we have to sacrifice birds to have wind energy. It's the lesser of two evils. :(

[kimchi]

5. See what happens when you chase tails? n/t

[Massacure]

6. WTF, how hard is it to put a grate over the intake?

[PeaceForever]

7. deleted n/t

[CHIMO]

8. Whale happily trapped with lots of herring

ANNAPOLIS ROYAL, N.S. — The department of fisheries and oceans is trying to coax a whale out of the Annapolis River.
Jerry Conway, of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, says, "When the gates were opened, the whale followed some herring in behind the power station, and spent the day there. They had to shut the gates eventually, and the whale stayed there, and the whale has been feeding on the herring that are caught behind the power dam.
"The whale isn't in any danger," Conway says. "In fact, it's quite healthy. It's quite happy to be there, because it has all that herring caught, and they're not going to escape."


http://novascotia.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=ns_whale20040824

Poor hering.

[CHIMO]

9. Whale may have swam free, officials say

HALIFAX - A humpback whale trapped in the Annapolis River for eight days may have found its own way out into the Bay of Fundy, fisheries officials say.

The young humpback, nicknamed "Sluice," has not been spotted since 10 p.m. Monday, federal fisheries spokesperson Terry Matheson said Tuesday.

A flood tide several metres high Tuesday morning may have allowed Sluice to swim free, he said.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2004/08/31/whale_free040831.html