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Guides & Mentors Nancy Wagner Captain and Bar Pilot, San Francisco Bar Pilots San Francisco, California   Describe your job as a San Francisco Bar Pilot. A Bar Pilot is the advisor to the Captain of the ship, and is the local expert providing information about the harbor to the Captain. A pilot has the […]

Maps & Charts Trade & Economics US-Japan Direct Investment Statistics (in Millions of U.S. Dollars) Year US in Japan Japan in US 1980 N/A 4,723 1981 N/A 7,697 1982 6,407 9,677 1983 7,661 11,336 1984 7,936 16,044 1985 9,235 19,313 1986 11,472 26,824 1987 15,684 34,421 1988 18,009 51,126 1989 19,911 67,268 1990 22,599 83,091 […]

Articles Ecology & Environment   The Bay’s International Guest A bay’s health is measured by the diversity of its biological species. So when an international guest — a clam — drops into San Francisco Bay and starts eating the food supply of the ecosystem’s resident clams, scientists worry that the Bay will suffer. Potamocorbula amurensis […]

Articles Ecology & Environment   Poison Lurks in Bay Sludge The young man kayaking on the choppy waters of India Basin looked like any other Sunday paddler, but he was a spy for the Bay. He was watching Pit Hog, a piece of dredging equipment that digs up Bay muds, sitting in the marina of […]

Articles Ecology & Environment   The Danger Beneath Hidden danger In recent years, scientists have collected alarming data: • Anywhere from 5,000 to 40,000 tons of at least 65 pollutants enter the rivers and Bay yearly, mainly from legal dumping. Many of the chemicals can cause cancer and birth defects. • Pollutants are widespread in […]

Articles Ecology & Environment Dying Fishery: Sign of Nature in Trouble Tragic decline of the Chinook Why should we care about the Bay fish? Whole species and races of fish are dying off – victims of our refinement of nature in California. We can count the cost in jobs lost, the decline of a fishing […]

Maps & Charts Ecology & Environment Top Pollutants in the San Francisco Bay Cadmium: Clings to soils and organics in the Bay where it is taken up by flounder, crab and other life. Chronic exposure is associated with lung, kidney and heart disease, anemia and skeletal weakening. Sources are industry, fertilizers and mine wastes. Copper: […]

Maps & Charts Ecology & Environment   Fish in the San Francisco Bay and Delta American shad: Now in decline, in the late 1800s, 800,000 fry were caught in New York and planted in the Sacramento River. Bay goby: It is one of the few fish that actually expanded its territory and numbers during the […]

Maps & Charts Ecology & Environment Glossary of Ecology Terms San Francisco Bay Chinook, or king, salmon: One of seven species of salmon in the northern Pacific Ocean. There are four runs, or genetically distinct races, in the Sacramento-San Joaquin river system. Many have been made extinct and most surviving runs are in decline. One […]

Articles History & Culture Tokyo in Transition Tokyo feels like the future, but the past is the adhesive that holds the city together as it races toward the 21st century. Like all great cities of the world, Tokyo has a character all its own. Despite its sprawling expanse, the city’s overall scale remains small, much […]