Cover
& Introduction

Sanctuary Program
Accomplishments

Beach Systems

Rocky Intertidal
& Subtidal Systems

Open Ocean
& Deep Water
Systems

The Physical
Environment

Wetlands
& Watersheds

Endangered
& Threatened
Species

Marine Mammals

Bird Populations

Harvested
Species

Exotic Species

Human
Interactions

Site Profile

Credits

Dedicated in 1992, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary is the largest of thirteen sanctuaries nationwide managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Encompassing more than 5,300 square miles of water, its boundaries stretch along the central California coast from the Marin County headlands south to Cambria. The sanctuary features many diverse communities, including wave-swept beaches, lush kelp forests, and one of the deepest underwater canyons in North America. An abundance of life, from tiny plankton to huge blue whales, thrives in these waters.

Our mission – to understand and protect the coastal ecosystem and cultural resources of central California – is carried out through the work of four program divisions: resource protection, education and outreach, research, and program support. A summary of each program’s major accomplishments and activities for 2002 follows.

variety of resource protection issues exist within the sanctuary region, due to the sensitivity of habitats and species in the region, the long stretch of adjacent populated coastline, and the multiple uses of the marine environment. The goal of the Resource Protection team is to initiate and carry out strategies to reduce or prevent detrimental human impacts.

Effective protection of the sanctuary requires partnerships with many other agencies and organizations. The team led or participated in a number of ongoing, collaborative, multi-stakeholder efforts to identify and reduce impacts to the sanctuary, including development of regional approaches to desalination, coastal armoring, marine reserves, fireworks, and landslides associated with the Coast Highway. Many of these efforts will be continued under the Joint Management Plan Review (JMPR) (see #program), and the team has been heavily involved in that effort as well.

The team increased its involvement in evaluating opportunities for ecosystem protection via marine reserves that would reduce or eliminate fishing activity in critical habitats – an important issue to be addressed further in the JMPR. Membership on the regional working groups established by the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) under the Marine Life Protection Act is providing sanctuary input into reserve development in state waters. Ongoing meetings with the Alliance of Communities for Sustainable Fisheries have continued to provide valuable input from the fishing community on the potential benefits and drawbacks of reserves.

A new project this year focused on the arrival of three large cruise ships to Monterey Bay. As these ships carry thousands of passengers, the volume of their potential discharges was of concern to the sanctuary, the City of Monterey, and many environmental organizations. All three cruise lines ultimately offered to adhere to a no-discharge policy while within the sanctuary, including no discharge of sewage, gray water, ballast, or bilge water (see Human Interactions).

The Water Quality Protection Program and its partners continued efforts in the watersheds to reduce contaminated runoff to the sanctuary. Carrying out the sanctuary’s Agriculture and Rural Lands Plan, staff at County Farm Bureaus, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Resource Conservation Districts, the Sanctuary Foundation, and other groups have made great strides in working with local farmers and ranchers to improve sediment, nitrate, and pesticide management. Ten watershed working groups, which include 200 farmers, have been formed and ten more are under development (see Human Interactions). Efforts to use trained volunteers to monitor water quality continued under the Sanctuary Citizen Watershed Monitoring Network, including multiple trainings, database development, and two successful regional events – Snapshot Day and First Flush (see Wetlands & Watersheds).

The Resource Protection team reviewed fifty permit requests this year, issuing permits or authorizations for activities such as seabed disturbance, discharges to the sanctuary, and overflights below 1,000 feet in restricted zones. Various permit conditions were imposed on these activities to reduce or eliminate threats to the sanctuary. We also conducted outreach to numerous pilot organizations to explain the overflight regulations and the effects low flights have on seabirds.

The team also reviewed and commented on a variety of projects, plans, or policies under development by other agencies to ensure that they incorporated adequate protection of sanctuary resources. Issues included local programs such as county general plans and local coastal programs; state plans for the nearshore fishery, squid, cabezon, and gillnets; and national issues such as the development of policy on aquaculture and military acoustic impacts.

Enforcement efforts continued with a special agent from NOAA’s Office for Law Enforcement and with CDFG and California State Park rangers who are cross-deputized to enforce sanctuary regulations. Cases were primarily instances of marine mammal harassment, unauthorized discharges into the sanctuary, or seabed alteration. We conducted an assessment of the enforcement program this year, resulting in a shift of our resources from an investigative special agent to a more field-based enforcement officer. We also responded to ten emergencies, primarily vessel groundings, to ensure adequate removal of fuel and oil from

the vessels. Staff also worked with the U.S. Coast Guard, CDFG, and others on assessment of damages and mitigation measures associated with the large-scale oiling of seabirds attributed to periodic leakage from the sunken World War II ship Luckenbach (see Human Interactions).

The goal of the Education and Outreach Program is to promote understanding and stewardship of the sanctuary. Themes for 2002 revolved around celebrating the tenth anniversary of the sanctuary’s designation while looking forward to the future.

The first look at the future came with the annual Sanctuary Currents symposium, “New Technologies: Revealing the Secrets of the Sea.” This event, co-hosted by the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments (AMBAG), was one of the best attended to date. More than 300 people gathered to hear about new explorations, techniques, education, research, and resource decision-making assisted by cutting-edge technology.

This same theme spilled over into the student summit, which evolved into a Student Ocean Conference. In partnership with the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center and the Monterey Bay Aquarium, several student opportunities were combined and offered as a two-day conference. One hundred and twenty students participated; some took part in a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) competition and others reported on monitoring projects they had developed. Dr. Sylvia Earle and marine engineer Alan Scott were featured speakers, and a career panel discussion took place. The event featured classes in GIS mapping, ROV building, SCUBA, and kayaking along with a trip to Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) and an overnight stay at the aquarium. We are grateful to Coastal America and National Geographic for providing a $10,000 grant for this conference.

The technology theme extended all the way to Mystic, Connecticut with the debut of Dr. Robert Ballard’s Immersion Institute. The Mystic Aquarium and Institute for Exploration, along with the National Marine Sanctuary Program, piloted a live televised program between the sanctuary and Mystic. Underwater cameras, located offshore from Monterey, televised footage across the nation to the Mystic Aquarium’s visitors. The remotely operated camera was controlled from more than three thousand miles away, bringing the wonders of Monterey’s kelp forest to the eastern seaboard. Sanctuary and Institute staff worked together to develop themes and messages for the programming.

Amidst all of the technological advances of the present, we also stepped back to look at the past. So much of our educational programming, research, and resource protection has been accomplished over the past ten years by a large group of very dedicated volunteers. As the first big step in celebrating the ten-year anniversary, the sanctuary hosted a volunteer appreciation event. The sanctuary has many volunteers, some working behind the scenes, others interpreting along the shores or on the water – monitoring beaches or monitoring storm drains and watersheds. Each person is a valuable part of learning about and protecting the sanctuary’s resources.

Children enjoy many of the activities at the Oceans Fair. photo NOAA/MBNMS

Tenth anniversary events came to a crescendo in September, as the sanctuary and its partners staged four successful day-long celebrations up and down the coast, attended in all by more than 15,000 people. Kick-off festivities in San Simeon began with kayaking, an environmental fair, and a beach barbecue followed by the dedication of a new sanctuary exhibit and special film showing at the Hearst Castle Visitor Center and National Geographic Theater. In Half Moon Bay we celebrated with the grand opening of a new State Parks visitor center, an environmental fair, a volunteer recognition ceremony, and the grand opening of our new sanctuary office in the downtown area. The festivities continued in Monterey with a huge Oceans Fair. The crowd enjoyed fantastic hands-on exhibits, entertainment, boat rides, tours, birthday cake, speeches by dignitaries, and a special “blessing of the sanctuary” ceremony. As part of Coastal Cleanup Day, Whole Foods donated lunch to the 150 volunteers who cleaned up beaches that morning. Our final event, the Santa Cruz Shark Festival and Sanctuary Celebration, featured a treasure hunt, shark tank, shark release, environmental fair, birthday cake, and entertainment.

As part of the sanctuary’s new MERITO program, students from Pajaro Middle School gather seeds for a wetlands restoration project. photo Karen Grimmer for NOAA/MBNMS

Two evening events also marked the sanctuary’s anniversary. We collaborated with the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and Monterey Bay Sanctuary Foundation to host a reception and “Oceans Forum.” Special guests included Dr. Sylvia Earle and artist Robert Lyn Nelson, who unveiled his commemorative painting, “Leatherbacks of the Pacific.” The Honorable Leon Panetta moderated the forum with guest speakers Jean-Michel Cousteau and Julie Packard, who discussed threats to the ocean’s health and the challenges ahead. The next evening AMBAG held an anniversary dinner at the Monterey Beach Hotel. We are thankful for all the support from our partners who helped us stage these special and memorable occasions for the sanctuary’s tenth birthday.

Toward the year’s end we launched a well-received multicultural education program, MERITO, whose projects include an after-school program in partnership with Elkhorn Slough Reserve and Pajaro Middle School, college internships for Latino students through California State University Monterey Bay, and a survey of families in Watsonville to learn what ocean issues concern them. Finally, the team began researching a potential visitor center location and developing a new suite of interpretive displays, signage, interactive kiosks, and exhibits with a focus on interpreting resource issue topics.

The Research Program develops and interprets scientific information to enhance our understanding of the sanctuary and to support effective resource management. This year was exciting in terms of program growth, variety of research efforts, and a growing leadership role.

The research staff has doubled in size to eight people. Through innovative partnerships with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey Bay Sanctuary Foundation, and MBARI we are able to support employees who focus on sanctuary issues while enhancing the capabilities of other institutions. Our Research Activities Panel, which continues to be a vibrant group, met eight times this year to advise and assist the sanctuary with expertise from twenty-two regional research institutions. We have created a new science committee to provide advice specifically on the Sanctuary Integrated Monitoring Network (SIMoN).

Underwater image of the cockpit of one of three sparrowhawk planes that were found with the wreck of the dirigible Macon in about 1,450 feet of water. photo 1990 MBARI

Though not yet fully underway, SIMoN has made significant ad-vances this year in developing a program that will be able to document changes to the sanctuary and determine if their causes are natural or human-induced. Four staff are focusing on monitoring: gathering historical information, integrating data from existing monitoring programs, funding new studies, and developing new ways to make data more available to resource managers and the public. This year we funded three new projects associated with Elkhorn Slough; supported bird and mammal surveys as well as offshore studies of oceanographic trends; maintained our beachcast organism surveys (see page 17) and kelp canopy assessments; and sponsored a workshop to integrate bird and mammal surveys across the West Coast sanctuaries. SIMoN has two new strong partners. The first, CI-CORE, is a Cal State University program to integrate coastal observations. The second, CIMT, is a regional effort led by the University of California Santa Cruz and the Naval Postgraduate School to integrate marine technology and develop methods to present data from coastal ecosystems in the greater Monterey Bay area. We put a lot of effort into developing a solid administrative foundation for the growing SIMoN program and setting up a new office for the staff.

Sanctuary research enhances understanding of the ecosystem by funding various projects, actively collecting data, and developing interdisciplinary collaborations with numerous institutions. In May we led a multi-institution expedition to characterize the biology of the Davidson Seamount, using a remotely operated vehicle from MBARI, with funding from the new NOAA Office of Exploration (see page 9). Our other research efforts ranged from supporting ship and plane time for leatherback turtle tagging, testing new methods of aerial surveys of kelp canopies, and mapping the seafloor at the legendary Mavericks surf spot. We are testing removal methods for a non-native kelp, Undaria, which has invaded the Monterey Harbor, following up on a discovery discussed in our last Ecosystem Observations.

Cultural resources, such as shipwrecks and historical coastal communities, are an important component of sanctuary management and protection. This year we completed an inventory of the hundreds of shipwrecks within the sanctuary. These include the 785-foot Macon air ship, which served in part as an aircraft carrier and sank off the Big Sur coast in 1935, and the Montebello, an oil tanker sunk off Cambria by a Japanese submarine during World War II. Wrecks are of historical interest and can also affect the environment if they contain hazardous materials that eventually escape (see Human Interactions).

The sanctuary uses the Internet to make scientific information easily accessible to the public. Our Davidson Seamount expedition was interpreted to the public with daily video clips and written updates on a web site (viewed by as many as 140,000 people per day), while the public communicated with our at-sea explorers through e-mail with questions and comments. We also continued to produce publications such as a review of marine reserve effectiveness within the sanctuary, a review of the status of fisheries within the sanctuary, and a forthcoming environmental review document to support the management plan.

Organizations beyond the sanctuary are taking notice of our research efforts. Information on our programs was presented at several national conferences, and we organized the first cultural resources session in the history of the California and the World Ocean conference. SIMoN, as a model for regional monitoring, has been an important part of developing a system-wide monitoring program for all the sanctuaries and received an award for “science in action” from our headquarters. Moreover, we were invited to discuss our entire research program as a potential model to the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries in South Korea. The new Office of Exploration chose our sanctuary to host a workshop on prioritizing ocean exploration for the West Coast. Finally, indicating a trend of increasing links between academic and applied research, Dr. Andrew DeVogelaere, the sanctuary’s research coordinator, was elected president of the Western Society of Naturalists. This is the first time a government employee has served the West Coast marine science society in this role.

The Program Support team provided administrative and operational support, continuing to help us stay focused on our mission and goals. Staff dedicated a significant amount of time (in conjunction with Cordell Bank and Gulf of the Farallones Sanctuaries) to keeping the Joint Management Plan Review (JMPR) moving forward.

We also worked with the Sanctuary Advisory Council to finalize a priority list of issues to be addressed in the plan. Council members and Conservation Working Group, Research Activities Panel, Sanctuary Education Panel, and Business and Tourism Activity Panel members participated in work groups formed to develop action plans to address the identified management plan issues.

The sanctuary and the council made a special effort to involve the public and receive comments on the management plan review, holding a special public comment meeting in Cambria to address public interest in sanctuary protection for waters off San Luis Obispo County. Specific resource priorities to be addressed in the management plan include: coastal development; coastal armoring; dredge disposal; benthic habitats; krill harvesting; marine reserves; beach closures and coliform contamination; desalination facilities; tidepool protection; marine mammal, seabird, and turtle disturbance; and motorized personal watercraft. For a complete update, visit www.sanctuaries.nos.noaa.gov/jointplan.

Other issues addressed by the Sanctuary Advisory Council included fiberoptic cables, the Water Quality Protection Program’s Agricultural and Rural Lands Plan, the sanctuary’s ten-year anniversary, and cruise ships. The council also received a special presentation about the state of our oceans from Pew Commission Chair and former Congressman Leon Panetta.

Several new members joined the council. A new government seat was appointed for the CDFG, and new representatives filled the diving, tourism, and California State Parks seats.

This year we started an active public relations and community outreach effort, with special emphasis placed on raising public awareness of the sanctuary during its ten-year anniversary celebrations in September. The sanctuary’s accomplishments over the past ten years received significant media coverage, including feature articles in local and regional media.