MBNMS RAP Meeting Summary November 18th, 2011

Research Activity Panel:
Meeting Summary
Chris Harrold, RAP Chair

Location:

Moss Landing Marine Laboratories
Seminar Room
8272 Moss Landing Road
Moss Landing, CA 95039

Date: Friday, November 18th, 2011; 9:00 am to 12:00 pm

* Sanctuary Advisory Council Member: Research (Primary)

† Sanctuary Advisory Council Member: Research (Alternate)

CONSENT ITEMS

Introductions/Modifications to the Agenda (Harrold)

HOST PRESENTATIONS AND DISCUSSION

Collaborative Fisheries Research: A way out of the data-poor fishery trap and into integration of MPAs and fishery management (Starr)

• Rick explained need for data in fisheries management
• Starr and Dean Wendt (Cal Poly) created California Collaborative Fisheries Research Program
• Developed protocols, worked with fishers, collected 5 years of catch data, 5-yr report (2007-2011)
• Data has two purposes: MPA evaluation and Fisheries Management
• Monitoring will continue for 2 years

Research update: NSF Monterey Bay shelf benthic exchange project involving MLML, NPS, and MBARI scientists (McPhee-Shaw)

• McPhee-Shaw provided summary on large experiment in 2011: Benthic Exchange Events Near Boundary Mixing on the Continental Shelf
• Investigated how bottom sediments at the shelf break (70-100m depth) are suspended and distributed
• Focused on surface waves and non-linear internal waves (waves that travel at the interface of water stratification)

PRESENTATION REQUESTED BY RAP
ECOSYSTEM-BASED MANAGEMENT INITIATIVE

ONMS Sentinel Monitoring Program (Chad King/MBNMS and Steve Gittings/ONMS)

• Chad introduced Steve Gittings (via phone) and Office of National Marine Sanctuaries Sentinel Site program
• Gittings gave presentation: Ocean observing sites for ecosystem integrity and early warnings of change
• Gittings discussed goals, definitions, outcomes
• Chad provided preview of new websites in development:
  • SIMoN Interactive Maps Project Locator (SIMPL)
  • SIMoN v2.0
• Lindholm suggested RAP should make recommendations to Gittings on Sentinel Sites

PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION

Characterizing the Deep: Surveys in the MBNMS 2007-2010 (Lindholm)

• New publication by Institute for Applied Marine Ecology and Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, "Characterizing the Deep: Surveys in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary 2007-2010" (copies provided to RAP)
• Camera sled and ROV work to characterize the continental shelf
• Goal of report: provide general info, numbers (area transected), what is there (fishes and inverts), key species depicted
• Report (pdf) available at:
  • http://montereybay.noaa.gov/research/techreports/trifame2011.html
  • If RAP would like hard copy, contact DeVogelaere
• Website developed to view seafloor images and video, Shelf Characterization & Image Display (SCID):
  • http://sep.csumb.edu/ifame/scid/

STAFF/SAC REQUESTS TO RAP

Call for Nominations: Ed Ricketts Memorial Award and Lecture (Erica Burton/MBNMS)

• Sanctuary Currents Symposium will be held on Saturday April 14, 2012 at CSUMB
• Symposium Theme, "From Lions to Luminescence: Linking Land and Sea"
• Ed Ricketts Memorial Award and Lecture is presented at Sanctuary Currents Symposium
• Award recipients are selected by the MBNMS Research Activity Panel
• Burton summarized the award description and criteria
• Initial call for award nominations was sent to RAP members via email
• Burton requested additional nominations from RAP at the meeting
• ACTION: Nominations should be sent to Erica Burton; due Friday December 2, 2011

SANCTUARY RESEARCH UPDATE

Sanctuary Research Update (DeVogelaere)

• Notice of Availability released for research vessels: R/V 4107 and R/V Fulmar
  • http://www.sanctuarysimon.org/regional_sections/fulmar/2012NOA.pdf
• Lecture Series in Cambria:
  • DeVogelaere helping Carolyn Skinder (MBNMS education staff) in developing lecture series on science for the public in Cambria
  • One lecture per week
  • DeVogelaere suggested some local scientists and RAP members (may be contacted)
• MBNMS and Access Monterey Peninsula (AMP) Public Television have collaborated to produce a new television series entitled "Your Sanctuary"
  • Pilot episode is complete; 52 episodes are planned for the series;
  • Airs on "amp 2" (http://www.ampmedia.org/programming.asp)
  • Local scientists (e.g., Julie Packard, Chris Scholin) were interviewed for the pilot
  • Interview with James Lindholm is scheduled
• MBNMS and GFNMS staff met to discuss planning for oil spills
• Sea Grant Fellow at MBNMS (Oren Frey) working on two projects:
  • Local Catch Monterey Bay: a Community Supported Fishery for Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties, offering a CSA-style weekly shares of fresh, local, sustainable seafood to members
    • http://www.localcatchmontereybay.com/
  • California Halibut survey; working with commercial hook and line fishers out of Santa Cruz
• EBM Initiative:
  • Unique and Rare Workshop report will soon be available; will send to RAP via listserv
  • At January RAP meeting, EBM Initiative team will request input from RAP

SUGGESTED FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS

• RAP Membership Update:
  • Cailliet: fill gaps; discuss/revisit how members are linked to discipline (January meeting)
  • McPhee-Shaw: need an atmospheric scientist on RAP (especially with climate change topic at the forefront)
• Climate Change (Storlazzi):
  • ONMS is chairing December 6th sea level change meeting
  • In addition, Center for Ocean Solutions (COS; Adina Abeles) is excited to organize a 1-2 day meeting
  • Larry Crowder (COS) should be invited to a RAP meeting
  • COS could host a 2012 RAP meeting; ask Adina; and Crowder could be invited
• Sentinel Sites (Lindholm): RAP should make recommendations to Gittings on Sentinel Sites

Future Agenda Items (running list):

• Predicting sea level rise for the state of California (Larry Breaker, JPL, OPC)
• EBMI/IEA presentations
  • IEAs, including those that have been implemented (e.g., Phil Levin, Frank Schwing, John Stein; per Yoklavich)
• Ken Johnson work in Elkhorn Slough (per McPhee-Shaw)
• Marine Policy issues (Sacramento; D.C.) that may need science input (per Ramp; Aimee David volunteered; or Adina Abeles)
• Climate Change
  • Rather than MBNMS tackle all climate change topics, perhaps let GFNMS/CBNMS continue as lead on climate change issues (per DeVogelaere), and request the following presentations:
    • GFNMS/CBNMS Ocean Climate Initiative (speaker: Higgason)
    • GFNMS/CBNMS Climate Change Impacts Report (speaker: Largier)
  • Perhaps tackle what GFNMS/CBNMS not working on (e.g., low oxygen; per Kudela)
  • Storlazzi is willing to help organize a general meeting on climate change science; State of the Science of climate change; adaptation plans; Perhaps MBCORC hosts a 1 or 2 day science meeting
    • CA coast (Lisa Sloan, UCSC; sea level rise, Breaker)
    • High-res climate models of CA (UCSC; or Dan Cayan or Dettinger/USGS)
    • What differences MBNMS might observe (per Starr)
    • NOAA Coastal Services Center putting together climate adaptation visualization tool (per Hunt)
  • Combine several sea level rise talks, including southern Monterey Bay group, tidal wetland plan (Largay), and Breaker's talk (not urgent)
• Desalination update (per Abeles); things have changed since Brad Damitz talked to the RAP; get speakers who lead projects (MBNMS staff to determine; ask Raimondi for advice...Cambria)
• RAP Membership Committee update