Components to the MBNMS Research Program

1. Facilitating collaboration between research groups in the MBNMS region
2. Providing technical information to decision makers and the MBNMS staff
3. Assessing "Sanctuary Health" with monitoring programs
4. Encouraging research on applied MBNMS resource management issues

MBNMS Research Component #1

Activities that Facilitate collaboration between research groups in the MBNMS region

• Serving on agency advisory committees and special initiative steering committees for:
  • Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve
  • Marine Resources Protection Act Ecological Reserves Research Grant Program
  • International Marine Biodiversity Initiative
  • National Undersea Research Program Monterey Bay Initiative
  • California Biodiversity Council
  • Graduate student thesis committees
• Maintaining searchable on-line data bases, including:
  • Regional scientists and their associated professional interests
  • Regional research institutions
  • Links to relevant homepage sites
  • e-mail lists for special working groups
• Facilitating monthly meetings of the MBNMS Research Activities Panel (RAP)

 

This panel provides a forum for continual updates on activities at the regional research institutions, for development of large institutional and smaller collaborative projects, for discussion and assessing MBNMS issues of concern, and for linking research with decision making process and the general public.

 

 

Members of the RAP include special advisors and representatives from the following institutions:

• Moss Landing Marine Laboratories
• California State University Monterey Bay
• The Stanford University Hopkins Marine Station
• University of California at Santa Cruz
• Naval Postgraduate School
• University of California Sea Grant Extension Program
• National Undersea Research Program
• Pacific Fisheries Environmental Laboratories, National Marine Fisheries Service
• Elkhorn Slough Foundation and National Estuarine Research Reserve
• Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary
• Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary
• United States Geological Survey
• California Department of Fish and Game
• California Department of Fish and Game, Marine Pollution Laboratories
• Office of Environmental Affairs, Department of the Interior
• Monterey Bay Aquarium
• Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
• Morro Bay Foundation

MBNMS Research Component #2

 

Site Characterization

The RAP is directing the annual updates of this "living electronic document." Chapters are written by local experts to characterize the Sanctuary resources. This exceptional, detailed document is available on the MBNMS homepage (http://montereybay.nos.noaa.gov).

 

 

Respond to information requests from the Sanctuary Advisory Council and MBNMS staff.

These activities include simple requests on technical information and reviewing material for scientific accuracy. For "high-profile" and complex analyses, the information requests are considered at the monthly RAP meetings (see Research Component #1).

 

 

Natural resource damage assessment

After events such as ship groundings, staff assesses resource damage, provides an analysis of different salvage scenarios, and recommends mitigation and monitoring schemes.

 

 

Review sanctuary permits

Research permits are reviewed when the permitting department has a question on the resource impact of the proposed project relative to the research benefits.

 

 

Sanctuary Currents

MBNMS staff and the RAP help organize the annual Sanctuary Currents Symposium. This symposium includes a series of presentations, posters, discussion panels and awards that focus, in large part, on educating the public and decision makers about current research projects.

MBNMS Research Component #3

Monitoring programs to assess "Sanctuary health"

The MBNMS is developing a series of monitoring programs to assess natural and human-induced changes of sanctuary resources, and in preparation for potential natural resource damage assessment issues. These monitoring components are all in their early stages and will receive increasing attention.

 

Beach survey

This program will assess the distribution and abundance of beached birds and mammals. A review of similar programs and a draft protocol is complete. Volunteers will be trained and used extensively in this program, and various groups and individuals have expressed interest in participating. Collaborators on this project include the Office of Oil Spill Prevention and Response, the California Parks Department and Moss Landing Marine Laboratories.

 

Rocky shores

Twenty-four long term data sets exist throughout the MBNMS (see the MBNMS Site Characterization for a review- http://montereybay.nos.noaa.gov) and we are combining these projects into a comprehensive monitoring plan. Moreover, a recent recovery study, funded through mitigation for a recent vessel grounding, is an integral component of this program. Participants on this project include Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, University of California at Santa Cruz, Stanislaus State University, Minerals Management Services, Applied Marine Sciences, Kinnetic Laboratories Inc., and MBNMS.

 

Water quality

The MBNMS is looking forward to building on the Elkhorn Slough Foundation/National Estuarine Research Reserve water monitoring program and extending it into the ocean. Flood layer sediment samples have been collected along a gradient from the Salinas River mouth.

 

Kelp forests and marine reserves

There is ongoing work to characterize kelp forests in the Sanctuary, and related areas that are designated as marine reserves. Collaborators on this projects include the Monterey Peninsula College, University of California at Santa Cruz, MBNMS, the Oceanic Society and the Packard Foundation.

 

Regional data repository and geographic information system

Monterey Bay scientists and resource managers have been planning the development of a regional data center since 1991. The MBNMS is building a computer- assisted visual of the project potential. MBNMS and the RAP are working closely with California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB), Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, and California Sea Grant to locate the regional database at the CSUMB Spatial Information Visualization and Analyses Center.

MBNMS Research Component #4

Activities that Encourage research on applied MBNMS resource management issues:

Funding graduate student stipends:

 

• Jonna Engel: The impact of commercial trawling on a benthic community within the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
• Chris Malzone: Tidal hydraulics and its relation to erosion and sediment transport in Elkhorn Slough.

 

Providing ship time for research:

 

• Shark Cat (24 ft. vessel owned by MBNMS)
  
  • MBNMS, National Biological Survey, California Fish and Game: Observation platform to study effects of low flying planes on bird rookeries.
    
  • University of California and Cal. State Monterey Bay: Testing a new high frequency radar used to measure ocean surface circulation.
• Ballena (56 ft. vessel on loan from the Channel Island National Marine Sanctuary)
  • University of California at Santa Cruz and Moss Landing Marine Laboratories: Determining critical habitats for blue whales, humpback whales, Pacific White-sided Dolphins, and Harbor Porpoises in the MBNMS.
    
  • Monterey Peninsula College, University of California at Santa Cruz, and MBNMS: Subtidal surveys in kelp forests and marine protected areas along the Big Sur coast.
    
• McArthur (175 ft. vessel from the NOAA fleet)
  
  • Pacific Fisheries Environmental Laboratories and University of California Sea Grant Extension: Mapping benthic habitats at the Big Creek Ecological Reserve.
    
  • Naval Postgraduate School: Meteorological studies- shipboard measurements of coastally trapped disturbances and seabreeze.
    
  • University of California at Santa Cruz: Temporal and spatial studies on the distribution of zooplankton as related to critical marine mammal habitats.
    
  • Naval Postgraduate School: Determining circulation and upwelling patterns in Monterey Bay.
    
  • U.S. Geological Survey: Seafloor mapping and detecting sediment transport with high resolution acoustic profiling.
    

 

Funding literature reviews on resource management questions:

 

• A review of existing beach survey programs.
• A review of seafloor disturbances in the MBNMS.

 

Funding modest research grants:

 

• University of California at Santa Cruz and California Sea Grant: Providing student trainee support for the intertidal biodiversity project.
  
• University of California at Santa Cruz, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, and Cascadia Research Collective: Studies of critical marine mammal habitats in central California National Marine Sanctuaries.
  
• Pacific Fisheries Environmental Laboratories and ABA Consultants: Sidescan sonar mapping at Big Creek Ecological Reserve.
  
• Elkhorn Slough Foundation/National Estuarine Research Reserve: Water quality monitoring in Elkhorn Slough and the adjacent watershed.
  
• San Jose State Foundation: Geographic information system technology for the MBNMS.
  
• Department of Fish and Game and Moss Landing Marine Laboratories: External lesions on flatfishes in Monterey Bay, California.
  
• Point Reyes Bird Observatory: Restoration, demography, and population viability of Rhinoceros Auklets in the MBNMS.