Pacific Swell: Tagged 'marine science'

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Yachting's America's Cup is displayed upon its arrival for a ceremony in San Diego, California on Febuary 21, 2010 to celebrate the team Oracle's victory in the 33rd America's Cup yacht race.

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Oracle Racing 5 - Coutts competes in the Fleet Racing Championships during the America's Cup World Series, San Diego Match Racing Championship Fleet Race on November 20, 2011 at San Diego Bay in San Diego, California.

The 161-year old race for the Auld Mug is on its way to San Francisco. The America's Cup itself isn't till next year, but plenty of events happen along the way to the final series. For all of them, for some time, environmentalists have been concerned about the impact a huge sailing race will have on the San Francisco Bay and the ocean waters around it.

Those double-hulled racing yachts are sailing under wind power, right? Sure, but the event's a huge tourist draw. That's going to bring in cruise ships and other spectator boats. And air pollution and water pollution their engines will bring, too.

And there's all the temporary development on shore. Most recently, environmentalists shut down plans for a giant floating TV screen in Aquatic Park (the Dolphin Swimming and Boating Club threatened to swim around that area in protests). The Sierra Club pointed to "concerns about water pollution impacts and other criticisms of the project's final environmental impact report, which the state requires before construction can begin." Now that's sorted out; the San Francisco Chronicle reports that San Francisco Supervisors addressed those concerns in the last several days.