Fiji Vignette 3/3 from Taj Burrow on Vimeo.
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I’ve just created a video review of some products that I think will be very helpful to anyone who plays in the sea or to any first responders who encounter marine envenomations and punture wounds from marine animals.
These First-Aid Kits and other products are designed to have everything you might need to treat an injury from jellyfish sting, a man-of-war sting, a sting from fire coral, and puncture wounds from stingrays or sea urchins.
I don’t sell these products, but I did receive free samples from the manufacturer, Ocean Care Solutions, because they know I have a strong interest in jellyfish and jellyfish sting injuries.
In addition to the specialized first-aid kits, the company also sells small bottles of jellyfish sting relief solution for use on common jellyfish stings. This is a vinegar-based solution (5% acetic acid) which does NOT contain Lidocaine.
Vinegar is the currently accepted treatment for jellyfish sting injuries and is believed to neutralize the stinging cells (nematocysts) of jellyfish tentacles.
Since man-of-war jellyfish have such a powerful sting, vinegar alone is not the recommended treatment. In addition to vinegar, the application of heat directly to the site of injury is the best treatment. Field experience suggests that 113 degrees Fahrenheit for at least 15 minutes is normally what it takes to make the pain subside. Heat can also be used on other types of jellyfish stings, but is generally not considered necessary because the application of vinegar alone is sufficient (after removing any remaining stinging tentacles).
Contents of the Ocean Care Solutions First-Aid Kit for Man-of-War stings. Click photo to enlarge.
These first-aid kits contain a special chemical heat pack compress that can be activated in the field to begin treatment immediately. The sooner treatment for any of these marine sting injuries starts, the more effective will be the relief.
Jellyfish Sting spray gel from Ocean Care Solutions. Active ingredient is 5% vinegar solution.
You can find out more about the products by visiting www.oceancaresolutions.com
I have been in contact with Ron Adley, now with Ocean Care Solutions, for several years. He has always been very quick to answer any questions I’ve had about the products he represents and has gone out of his way to provide me with the latest information on field test results and independent scientific or medical research papers and studies on the topic of jellyfish sting injuries and treatment.
Ocean Care Solutions is serious about offering the best possible solutions for treatment of marine stings. The adoption of these first-aid kits for use in the field should be a serious consideration of all first-responders as well as anyone else who plays in or around the sea: beachgoers, divers, wade fishermen, surfers, kayakers, kite-boarders, etc.
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This morning I saw a post on the Seabean Facebook group page from my friend Ed Perry about a news story concerning the Japan earthquake debris beginning to arrive on the US coastline. Oceanographer Dr. Curtis Ebbesmeyer talked about this at the International Seabean Symposium back in October of 2011. Beachcombers all along the western US coastline have been anticipating the arrival of debris. Here are the developing stories from the Peninsula Daily News:
December 9, 2011 an article appeared in the Peninsula Daily News about an educational talk being given by Dr. Ebbesmeyer speculating about what might wash up and when it might happen.
December 15, 2011 – “The first piece of debris that could be identified as washing up on the West Coast from the March 11 tsunami in Japan — a large black float — was found on a Neah Bay beach two weeks ago, Seattle oceanographers Curtis Ebbesmeyer and Jim Ingraham said Tuesday night. The floats are included in masses of black blobs supporting huge rafts of debris that include fishing boats, houses and possibly human bodies, Ebbesmeyer said. Many of those bodies and parts of bodies will likely begin washing up in about a year, some simply as feet in athletic shoes, similar to those found in Puget Sound over the last decade, he said. Athletic shoes make the perfect floats to preserve parts of bodies, Ebbesmeyer said, and there are still thousands of people missing from tsunami-stricken areas of Japan.”
December 16, 2011 – More debris from Japan being found, since people are learning what to look for. “About a quarter of the 100 million tons of debris from Japan is expected to begin to make landfall on Pacific coastlines in a year, Ebbesmeyer said. Most of the debris is still in the middle of the Pacific, but some lighter, windblown flotsam travels faster, he said.”
Wow, that’s 25 MILLLION TONS of debris washing up on the Pacific coast of the US during 2012. According to Dr. Ebbesmeyer, quoted in the newspaper articles, “All debris should be treated with a great reverence and respect,…families in Japan are waiting to hear of any items that may have been associated with their loved ones and may travel to the U.S. to meet those who found these mementos.”
December 19, 2011 – “A big black float that was thought to be in the first wave of tsunami debris to be found on beaches in the U.S. has been identified as having come from Miyagi prefecture, one of the areas hardest hit by the March’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan, according to Japanese newspaper The Mainichi Daily News.”
More info:
Ben Sherman, of the NOAA National Ocean Service left the following comment on one of the articles from the Peninsula Daily News:
“If people want to learn more about Marine Debris from Japan, visit the following weblink http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/news/features/dec11/japan-tsunami-debris.html where you can see what major ocean modelers are basing their predictions for debris land fall on – based on known debris … combined with historical weather and ocean current patterns. Also learn about what Federal agencies including NOAA are doing and hear a podcast interview with one of NOAA’s top marine debris specialists.”
Read about the first time I met Dr. Ebbesmeyer and learned about his fascinating line of work studying things that drift on ocean currents.
Dr. Curtis Ebbesmeyer with some of the flotsam he's collected and studied over the years.
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Subaru Outback with windshield punctured by a branch. Photo from www.theblaze.com
This morning I read with sadness the story of a man in Colorado who died when a branch, apparently torn from a tree in a powerful windstorm, punctured the windshield of his Subaru Outback and impaled him in the chest. He managed to steer the car to the side of the road before he lost consciousness, thereby saving his wife from injury. Read the entire story.
This story hits home for me because in December 2007 I had a close call which ended on a much happier note. I’d posted a short article about it on my old blog. I was on my way to see a sea turtle release on Longboat Key to write an article for VisitFlorida. Here’s the photo of my windshield and a relevant excerpt from my blog post:
My 1996 Buick Regal windshield damaged in 2007 by a flying piece of tree root or branch. You can click the photo to enlarge it.
As I was approaching the bridge over Anna Maria Sound on Manatee Avenue, a large dump truck traveling in the opposite direction somehow launched a chunk of wood into my lane. I saw it coming straight at my face and managed to duck down behind the steering wheel as it made a very loud and explosive impact. After realizing I was still alive and regaining control of the car, I drove over the bridge and pulled over at the Kingfish boat ramp to survey the damage. I was covered with glass. I had glass in my hair, inside my glasses, all over my clothes. Glass covered the entire interior of the car. After reporting the incident to FHP and my insurance company, I decided to go ahead and see the turtle release.
I’m not sure why the wood did not penetrate the glass. Perhaps it was because it first bounced off the hood of the car before hitting the glass. More likely it was because of the angle of impact and possibly because of the thickness of the Buick glass. Small cars tend to have thinner glass. The glass technician who replaced the windshield said I was lucky the car had such thick and high-quality glass. Something to think about before you buy that Honda Fit.
I’m still driving that Buick, and even after several vacuumings I can still see the sparkles of glass dust in the now almost disintegrated carpet under the back windshield.
So yeah, I’m feeling really lucky today after reading about the not-so-lucky guy in Colorado.
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Taking a walk on the Rod and Reel Pier on Christmas Day.
After having lunch with Mom and Dad, the wife and I decided to drive out to Anna Maria and go for a walk on one of the piers. The restaurant on the Rod & Reel Pier was closed, so very few people were stopping and the parking lot was nearly empty (that’s a first!). So we stopped and enjoyed the pier.
These benches were waiting for us.
There were quite a few dolphins fishing near the pier. They can be really hard to photograph.
A very thick school of mullet swam next to the pier and I managed to get a few seconds of video before a guy with a large cast net pushed in front of me and threw over the fish. He got so many fish in the net that it took three of us to pull the net up onto the pier. There must have been 100 pounds of fish in that net. I’m not sure what anyone would do with 100 pounds of fish, so I hope he’s got a sharp knife and a big empty freezer at home.
This is what the net looked like after we pulled it onto the pier.
I was glad to help the guy bring the fish up onto the pier, but of course I got covered with fish slime and scales and had to hose myself off. Smelled like fish all the way home. The dude didn’t even offer me a fish.
Normally a rather busy place, the Rod & Reel Pier was quiet on Christmas Day because the restaurant was closed. We thought it was great.
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