MBNMS RAP Meeting Summary April 12th, 2002

Research Activity Panel Meeting Summary
Chris Harrold, Monterey Bay Aquarium, RAP Chair

APRIL 2002 RAP MEETING

Members

• Chris Harrold, Monterey Bay Aquarium - Chair
• Jeff Paduan, Naval Postgraduate School – Vice Chair
  
• Andrew DeVogelaere – RAP Coordinator
  
• Greg Cailliet, MLML
  
• Steve Moore, CSUMB
  
• Dan Costa, UCSC
  
• Caroline Pomeroy, UCSC
  
• Gary Sharp CCORS

Guests

• Erica Burton, MBNMS
  
• Kelly Newton, MBNMS
  
• Steve Davenport, UCSC
  
• Lydia Bergen, UCSC
  
• Steve Shimek, Otter Project
  

PRESENTATIONS

Institutional Update: Center for Ocean Health (Steve Davenport)

Steve Davenport, Operations Manager, gave an overview of the history of the Center for Ocean Health, and Long Marine Lab. Currently, the Center for Ocean Health building is home to 6 faculty members from the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department. Steve also presented the future plans for the Lab and its surrounding property, now referred to as the UC Marine Science Campus. The long-term plan, 30 to 50 years, projects to triple the amount of building space. New development includes housing units for short-term use, a modest conference center, and a USGS building. Also in the works at Long Marine Lab is the expansion of the seawater system. The system needs the upgrade to accommodate the new buildings at the site, and can be upgraded with out redoing major components.
For more information, please contact Steve Davenport (831) 459-4771

SHORT PRESENTATIONS

Federal Funding Initiatives (Andrew DeVogelaere)

There have been a series of bigger projects sent to NOAA recently for funding. Including several from MLML, UCSC, and the Sanctuary. MBCORC is compiling summaries of these projects to enhance inter-institution collaboration, and make sure that the directors of the institutions know about the other projects to help interpret them in Washington, D.C., and to avoid confusion about the projects.

RAP Expectations: Phase II – The MBNMS Staff perspective (Andrew DeVogelaere)

Andrew reviewed the list of needs of the Research Institutions from the previous meeting. One RAP member suggested emailing the meeting summary out to all RAP members and also the research interests listserver including a link to the website where the summary can be found. More research-based talks were also suggested. A list of Sanctuary staff expectations of the RAP was reviewed. One of the top expectations is to have RAP members participated in public policy related to their field of expertise. Other expectations include hosting RAP meetings, sharing relevant information from the Sanctuary and RAP meetings within member institutions, and advising the Sanctuary in applied research and monitoring priorities.

Nomination for Membership on the RAP for the NOAA Center for MPA’s (Andrew DeVogelaere)

Charlie Wahle has asked to join the RAP. There will be an email vote to determine whether or not the MPA Center will become an at-large member, an institution member, or neither.

Management Plan Update (Chris Harrold)

Chris sent an email to local scientists requesting issues that they see important for the management plan review. Chris incorporated the responses that he received into the priorities that he submitted to the Sanctuary. The first priority is Biological Diversity / Ecosystem Conservation, and Water Quality is the second priority that was submitted.

INFORMATION ITEMS

TOPP Project Update (Dan Costa)

The TOPP (Tagging of Pacific Pelagics) Project has been holding workshops to build the program. Each workshop focuses on different topics including sea turtles and seabirds, physical oceanographic data, outreach and education, and data management. A grant of $2.5 million was awarded to develop electronic tag technologies, and a CTD based tag to place on marine mammals. Once all of the workshops are completed there will be a larger meeting to work on the implementation plan. For more info contact Dan Costa (831) 459-2786.

McArthur cruise update (Erica Burton)

The March McArthur cruise went well. They were able to complete the Cal COFI line in record time. Sanctuary Quest begins May 5 in Santa Barbara and will end May 14 in San Francisco. The cruise will be broken into 2 parts with the first half focusing on Partington Canyon, and the second half on the effects of trawling inside and outside of the 3-mile limit.

Regional Biogeography Assessment Update (Erica Burton)

The Biogeography team has finished collecting all necessary data sets. Satie Airame will present the final report at the May RAP meeting.

MPA Social Science Workshop (Carrie Pomeroy)

On April 8-9 there was a MPA social science workshop for social scientists to brainstorm needs and priorities for MPA’s. The results of the workshop will be worked up into a draft strategy that will be available August / September. A series of regional workshops will be held around the country to obtain additional input.

Workshop on Chemical Contaminants & Health Status of Sea Otters (Steve Shimek)

A workshop was held in January on chemical contaminants and the health status of Sea Otters. There were 20 participants, mainly researchers, who gave updates on current research and helped develop a 10-task research plan. The next step is to facilitate the work and find the funds to support the $2.1 million plan.

Seminar Announcement (Gary Sharp)

On Tuesday April 16 John Daly will be in the area. He will be speaking about global warming and climate modeling at 7pm in the seminar room of Moss Landing Marine Laboratories

Beach COMBERS Training Class (Kelly Newton)

A new Beach COMBERS training class will begin Saturday April 27 at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories.