Research Activities Panel Meeting Summary September 2001

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

Host: Hopkins Marine Station
Friday, September 14, 2001 9am-12pm
Attendance: 14 RAP members, 6 guests

Jeff Paduan acted as Chair of the RAP meeting in Chris Harrolds absence.

UPDATES

National Day of Remembrance (Jeff Paduan)

Jeff mentioned that the RAP meeting was being held on the National Day of Remembrance. Jeff announced to the RAP that the staff of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary were especially touched by the tragedy when they learned that among the victims of the hijacking and crash of American Airlines Flight 77 were 3 sixth grade students, three teachers, and 2 staff members from the National Geographic Society that were bound for a week-long field trip to CINMS.

Tar ball incident (Kelly Newton)

Kelly gave an update on the tar ball incident that occurred on September 13, 2001. Tar was found on beaches from the Pajaro River mouth to Point Sur. The CDFG Office of Spill Prevention and Response and the US Coast Guard responded to the event. They will be cleaning the beaches over the weekend. So far, only 1 oiled bird has been found.

PRESENTATIONS

Institutional Update: Hopkins Marine Station (George Somero)

Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University, founded in 1892, is the oldest marine institute on the West Coast and the second oldest in the country. Hopkins is largely a teaching institution for graduate and undergraduate students, offering about 20 courses per year. Their teaching complements teaching on the main campus, approximately eighty percent of all lab courses that Stanford offers are taught at Hopkins. Hopkins has also started to offer courses that are broadcast back to the main campus that have 12-15 students at each end. All of the research at Hopkins, done by its nine professors, is focused on the marine environment. They have a new microscope facility that contains a confocal scope, which is the best microscope currently on the central coast. If any RAP members are interested in using the scope please contact George at Somero@leleand.Stanford.edu For more information on the Hopkins Marine Station see http:// www-marine.stanford.edu/

Continental Shelf GIS for the MBNMS (Steve Eittreim)

Steve presented the RAP with the new CD Rom that is available from USGS. The CD Rom contains the results from the 6-year project on the Sanctuary to make the most detailed map of the sanctuary sea floor as possible. The area mapped is from Ano Nuevo to Point Sur, and is divided into 22 sections. Information provided includes base map layers, topographic layers, shaded relief imagery, track lines from the side scan sonar, navigation, and backscatter. All images on the CD Rom are geo-referenced, and Arc View is needed to make the best use of the CD. For more information on the CD Rom, or to obtain a copy please see http://geopubs.wr.usgs.gov/open-file/of01-179/

LIDAR Mapping of the Sanctuary Shoreline: Results and Future Plans (Bruce Richmond)

Bruce announced that in October 2002 the LIDAR mapping system will be available in the Monterey Bay area. A LIDAR was completed in October 1997 & April 1998 to assess the impacts of El Nino on the central California coastline. Bruce presented some of the results from the 97-98 LIDAR surveys along with LIDAR examples from the east coast. The primary reason LIDAR will be here in 2002 is for a long-term shoreline study. The oldest known shoreline data dates back to 1851. The 2002 shoreline data will be compared to historical data to help assess shoreline positions on a national scale.

LIDAR data is available to download at

http://www.csc.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/crs/tcm/ldart_start.pl

For information on the USGS Extreme storm impact studies please visit

http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/

If you would like to participate in the LIDAR project, or suggest areas in need of surveys, please contact Mike Carr at mdcarr@usgs.gov (650) 329-5011

DISCUSSION

Research and RAP priorities for the MBNMS Management Plan Revision (Andrew DeVogelaere)

The RAP discussed Research Program priorities for the next 5 years. A lot of attention was paid to the mission statement and the six goals presented by Andrew. To complete this agenda topic, Andrew will send an email to the RAP asking for questions or issues that the Sanctuary Research Program could and should address in the Management Plan Review.

Natural Milestones that have occurred in the MBNMS since 1992 (Kelly Newton)

Kelly asked the RAP for ideas on large-scale natural events that have occurred in the Sanctuary since designation in 1992. She received many good suggestions that will be compiled and emailed to RAP members for further comments.

INFORMATION ITEMS

RAP letter to CWG on conservation implications of marine reserves (Erica Burton)

Erica gave an overview of the letter sent to the CWG in response to their questions about marine reserves. Several RAP members commented that the letter was extremely well done.

RAP letter to SAC on deep-sea cables (Erica Burton)

Erica presented the RAP letter to the SAC that addressed deep-sea cable issues. Chris Harrold had sent a draft of the letter through email to the RAP asking for comments. A majority of the RAP had no opinion on what the prices for the fair market value of the cable laying should be, but they feel that research and monitoring are essential in the process. Carrie Pomeroy, as a social scientist, had questions for the RAP about where social science fits in. She feels that social science needs more recognition from the RAP in its letters. It was suggested by another RAP member that Carrie send a letter directly to the SAC on this topic, and that she should feel free to edit RAP draft letters as they are circulated through emails.

Annual RAP Barbecue

The BBQ was a well-received, well-attended event (including Sanctuary staff and Hopkins Marine Station graduate students). Many thanks to George Somero and Judy Thompson at Hopkins for renting the BBQ and providing the beer & wine. Thanks also to Aaron King for his excellent culinary efforts!