MBNMS RAP Meeting Summary May 14th, 2010

Research Activity Panel: Meeting Summary
Chris Harrold, RAP Chair

Host:
Kerstin Wasson - Estuarine Ecology (Elkhorn Slough NERR and Foundation)

Location:
Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve
1700 Elkhorn Road
Watsonville, CA 95076

Date: Friday, May 14th, 2010; 9:00 am to 12:00 pm

In Attendance:

* Sanctuary Advisory Council Member: Research (Primary)

† Sanctuary Advisory Council Member: Research (Alternate)

CONSENT ITEMS

Introductions/Modifications to the Agenda (Hunt)

HOST PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION

Estuarine Conservation Research at the Elkhorn Slough Reserve (Wasson)

• Kerstin Wasson discussed 3 projects
  • Salt marshes: past, present, future
    • Studying potential effects of sea level rise
    • Predict: Narrow salt marsh band (less sediment, less salt marsh plain, bath tub slough)
    • Website will be made available of past/future distributions of intertidal habitats and different sea level rise scenarios (Sample GIS Visualizations)
    • ACTION: Wasson asked if members of the RAP would like to be involved/attend meetings on this project? Or hear a longer presentation in the future?
  • Eutrophication thresholds
    • 20-yr data set of monthly WQ data set
    • Technical report on web (Hughes et al. 2010)
    • http://www.elkhornslough.org/research/bibliography_tr.htm
  • Native oyster restoration science
    • Olympia oysters: improve water quality, and provide habitat
    • Abundant oysters occur only in upper estuary (~5000 oysters remain in estuary)
    • Nearest northern population is in SF Bay, nearest southern population is Morro Bay (slough connects north/south pops)
    • Recruitment variable across sites and across years
    • Pilot project: translocate lower estuary dead clam shells (bagged with biodegradable mesh) into upper estuary
    • http://www.elkhornslough.org/research/conserv_oysters.htm

SANCTUARY RESEARCH UPDATE

Sanctuary Research Update (DeVogelaere)

• NOAA DeHavilland Twin Otter (plane) at Monterey Jet Center
  • Two pilots in MBNMS office: LT Jason Mansour, LCDR Brad Fritzler
  • Research uses of the plane include:
    • Marine mammal survey at, and adjacent to, the Davidson Seamount Management Zone
    • Leatherback Sea Turtles and jellies
  • Plane sent to the Gulf of Mexico for oil spill response
  • http://montereybay.noaa.gov/research/platforms/twinotter.html
• NOAA Ship McArthur II
  • In the MBNMS July 2010:
    • Marine mammal and seabird survey at Davidson Seamount Management Zone
    • CalCOFI lines
  • If RAP interested in using ship, let DeVogelaere know
  • http://www.moc.noaa.gov/mt/index.html
• Sanctuary Characterization & Image Display (SCID) Project
• Partners: CSUMB, MBNMS
• Map available online
• http://sep.csumb.edu/ifame/scid/
• Historical Timeline of central CA and resources
  • Sea Grant Fellows project (Steve Choy and Hugo Selbie)
  • Historical timeline available online (draft)
  • http://www.sanctuarysimon.org/timeline/
• West Coast Sanctuaries working to issue multi-year, multi-sanctuary permit to NOAA Fisheries for West Coast Trawl Survey
  • Per MBNMS regulations, no trawling will occur within Davidson Seamount Management Zone, or at USS Macon wreck site
  • In addition, permittee was requested to coordinate with Nature Conservancy on avoiding research trawl closures in Morro Bay area
• Sanctuary Exploration Center, Santa Cruz
  • Groundbreaking Ceremony July 12, 2010
  • MBNMS focusing on PR
  • http://montereybay.noaa.gov/vc/sec/welcome.html
• Staff reduced due to limited budget (lost one SIMoN Scientist; 4 full-time positions reduced to part-time)
• "Fishes of the World" Exhibit PG Natural History Museum reached 15,000 visitors (Partners included MLML, CSUMB)
• SIMoN developed National Registry of Observing Systems: handed off to University of Southern Florida
  • Online map resides on CeNCOOS website
  • http://www.cencoos.org/OceanObs/
• Davidson Seamount: MBARI mapped with AUV at 3 meter resolution; publication forthcoming
• Artificial Reefs:
  • Hot topic for the SAC; SAC/divers believe it's a good idea
  • RAP might be asked to provide input
  • RAP agreed:
    • Pros/cons, and concerned about impacts
    • Literature available
    • RAP interested in topic
• Blue Ocean Film Festival:
  • MBNMS involved in PR and planning
  • Francisco Chavez, Steve Ramp, and Frank Schwing involved in drifter deployment in California Current

ENHANCED ECOSYSTEM-BASED MANAGEMENT INITIATIVE

Update (DeVogelaere)

• Andrew DeVogelaere provided brief update
  • Frank Schwing has become NOAA Fisheries' leader on effort
  • Schwing gave a presentation to SAC on EBM and Integrated Ecosystem Assessments (IEAs) and similar presentation to MBCORC
  • Phil Levin (NOAA Fisheries) gave presentation at Sanctuary Currents Symposium on IEAs
  • Fall 2010: Upcoming Workshop: do MPAs provide research benefit?

PRESENTATION (requested by RAP)

Seaweeds Are Key to a Sustainable Society (Mike Graham/Moss Landing Marine Labs)

• Seaweeds can recycle carbon and nitrogen…can we take advantage?
• Abalone Aquaculture - Initial goal: integration of red algae into abalone aquaculture
• Red algae: Gracilariopsis andersonii grown on outer side of Monterey Harbor wall
• 1-yr feeding study 25% increase in abalone with 5% red algae (took 9 months off of 3 yr grow out, better project, more environmental; better taste/texture)
• Next goal: decrease cost of abalone feed – kelp silage (analogous to cow alfalfa silage)
  • Vacuumed sealed
  • Currently conducting controlled feeding experiment
• Moss Landing Power Plant/Kaiser property work: using kelp (Macrocystis) as pre-filter for Calera cement plant; potential for 3-20 tons kelp per week (1 ton nitrogen recovered)
• http://www-csgc.ucsd.edu/NEWSROOM/NEWSRELEASES/2009/RedAbaloneDiet.html

DISCUSSION ITEMS

Proposed Halibut Trawl Fishery: RAP Ad Hoc Committee Preliminary Meeting (DeVogelaere)

• RAP Ad Hoc Committee formed:
  • Cailliet
  • Grimes
  • Lindholm
  • Scorse
  • Storlazzi
• Committee reviewed three documents
• Committee reviewed green sturgeon docs, critical habitat (per Grimes)
• Additional literature was suggested at meeting and will be reviewed
• Committee will provide input to Superintendent
• Pomeroy and Starr expressed interest in the committee; did not attended the first meeting; will be notified of next meeting
• DeVogelaere will follow-up with Ad Hoc Committee to determine next steps

RAP Membership: Ad Hoc or At-Large (Hunt)

• At several recent RAP meetings, the RAP has raised the question of expanding RAP membership
• RAP discussed the following specific issue:
  • Do we need Chemical Oceanography member(s) as suggested?
  • Is there a Management Plan Issue that requires regular input from a Chemical Oceanographer?
  • Are we regularly addressing a Chemical Oceanography related issue?
• RAP questioned the need to create a method of adding Ad Hoc or At-Large member (e.g., issue needs addressing where expertise on RAP not available), for example:
  • Artificial Reefs
  • Trawling
• Short-term, issue-based input could probably be addressed with Ad Hoc Committee or Ad Hoc Membership, and probably not an issue
• When RAP "Purpose and Protocols" were developed and finalized in May 2006, the RAP decided not to have At-Large members
• Everyone at meeting content with existing structure, with continued use of Ad Hoc advisors

Sanctuary Currents Symposium Recap (Kristine Falooon/MBNMS)

• Symposium was held April 10, 2010 at CSUMB
• Theme: "Voices of Hope: Science and Innovation for the Ocean"
• 250-300 in attendance
• Ricketts Memorial Lecture and Award: Rikk Kvitek
• Posters: 60 submitted, maximum number to date
  • 11 High School
  • 7 Undergraduate Students
  • 25 Graduate Students
  • 17 Agencies/Professionals
  • Poster awards presented to students
• See website for program, speaker abstracts, poster abstracts, and award winners
• http://montereybay.noaa.gov/research/currsymp2010/welcome.html

SUGGESTED FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS

• High concentration of nonylphenol (endrocrine disrupter) in Morro Bay and Elkhorn Slough (requested by John Hunt)
• Upcoming RAP Meetings: possible conflicts
  • July 9 (Host: McPhee-Shaw/MLML): Cailliet will be be at "Ichs/Herps" Conference
  • September 10 (Host: Pomeroy and Carr/UCSC) Pomeroy will be at "California and the World Ocean" Conference
  • November 12 (Host: Harrold/MBA): Several will be at "Western Society of Naturalists" Conference
• Burton will poll RAP for meeting conflicts (2010, 2011)

Future Agenda Items (running list):

• Water Quality
  • Critical coastal areas presentation (ASBS, areas water quality impaired, areas in good state; Ross Clark)
• SIMoN
  • SIMoN Special Status Species Project (Jennifer Brown)
• Communication Partnership for Science and the Sea (COMPASS)
• Wave Model Development and Implementation (Paul Wittmann/Fleet Numerical)
• Data integration across monitoring programs (e.g., water quality, PISCO, MARINe, IOOS), and availability to the public
• Recent event: Supreme Court allows Navy Sonar (per John Hunt)
• Predicting sea level rise for the state of California (Larry Breaker, JPL, OPC)
• CeNCOOS update (new website: activities)
• High-res models of CA (Cayan or Dettinger/USGS)
• National Weather Service Forecast Office (Tom Evans, Warning Coordination Meteorologist)
• Presentation on IEAs (e.g., Phil Levin, Frank Schwing, John Stein), including IEAs that have been implemented (per Yoklavich)
• MPAs
  • State MPA monitoring projects (Jason Vasques)
  • Marine Spatial Planning presentation (per Harrold); Fio recently heard Marine Spatial Planning talk from Massachusetts, or speaker from Center for Ocean Solutions (Meg Caldwell)