Urban Coast The Journal of the Center for Santa Monica Bay Studies Urban Greening | Public Access | Sustainable Seafood | Coastal Opinion Poll | Beach Water Quality Historical Ecology | Ballona Wetlands Assessment | Diversifying Environmental Education Preserving Habitat | Colorado Lagoon Restoration | Sustainable Infrastructure Volume 3, Issue 1, March 2012 Santa Monica Bay Restoration Foundation | PO Box 13336, Los Angeles, California 90013 | Telephone 213.576.6615 | www.santamonicabay.org URBAN COAST 3 | 1 March 2012 URBAN COAST 3 | 1 March 2012 ii Diver Collects Sea Urchins as Part of Kelp Restoration Project Photo: Michael Quill i URBAN COAST 3 | 1 March 2012i PHOTO: JOHN HOLLENBECK Support Urban Coast • Recommend Urban Coast to your colleagues and protégés • Submit your work for inclusion in Urban Coast • Donate to help ensure Urban Coast remains online for free iii URBAN COAST 3 | 1 March 2012 In This Issue Squid Fleet Photo: Gerick BerGsMa 2010 / Marine PhotoBank 9 Discussion: Sustainable Seafood PHOTO: JOHN HOLLENBECK WELCOME 1 Letter from the Director 54 Historical Ecology as a Living Resource for Shelley L. Luce Informing Urban Wetland Restoration Shawna Dark, Eric D. Stein, Danielle Bram, & Joel Osuna 3 Letter from the Editor Sean P. Bergquist 61 Wetland Health and Assessment: An Information PERSPECTIVES Inundation at the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Karina Johnston 5 Bringing Nature Back to Our Cities Mark Ridley-Thomas CASE STUDIES 72 Coastal Stewards Program: Diversifying 7 Protecting Public Interest in the Santa Monica Environmental Education Mountains Carrie Samis Antonio Gonzalez 78 Filiorum: A Dream Fulfilled 9 Discussion: Sustainable Seafood William Ailor 10 Sustainable Seafood in the United States Mark Helvey, Jennifer Isé, & Heidi Taylor 85 The Complexity of Urban Tidal Wetlands Restoration Projects Exemplified at Colorado 16 California Sustainable Seafood Initiative Eric Zahn Samuel Schuchat 92 Sustainable Infrastructure: The Elmer Avenue 21 Responsible Seafood Sourcing: A Neighborhood Retrofit Distributor’s Perspective Edward Belden, Michael Antos, Kristy Morris, & Nancy L. C. Steele Logan Kock & Mary Smith ENVIRONMENTAL NOTES & ABSTRACTS 29 Commentary: SlapFish: Delicious and Sustainable Andrew Gruel & Jethro Naude 102 Policy 107 Pollution 30 Bridging the Market Gap: Working with Fishermen for Sustainable Seafood and Communities 110 Monitoring Ariana Pitchon 112 Restoration RESEARCH & POLICY Manhattan Beach at Sunset 36 Public Perceptions of Coastal Resources in cover Photo: sarah woodard Southern California Sean Anderson 48 Adapting and Adopting Rapid Molecular Methods for Beach Water Quality Monitoring Karen Setty URBAN COAST 3 | 1 March 2012 URBAN COAST 3 | 1 March 2012 iv About Urban Coast Boats in Marina del Rey PHOTO: MICHELLE KEARNEY About Urban Coast This multidisciplinary journal is a product of the Center for Santa Monica Bay Studies, a partnership of Loyola Marymount University’s Seaver College of Science and Engineering and the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Foundation. Urban Coast fulfills the Center’s goal of providing a much-needed forum to highlight research that informs the most pressing issues of our day and policies that affect the condition of urban coastal resources. Urban Coast is the ideal forum for researchers, agencies, advocacy groups, and other science and policy leaders to engage in constructive discussion and information exchange on issues that are pertinent to our coastal environments. In this way, we can find common ground and highlight the robust science, analysis, and assessment needed to catalyze good policy, design, and management measures. The Center for Santa Monica Bay Studies The Center for Santa Monica Bay Studies is a program of the Seaver College of Science and Engineering at Loyola Marymount University and the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Foundation. The mission of the Center is to engage in multidisciplinary research on environmental and social issues affecting Santa Monica Bay and its watershed, and to contribute to policies and actions that improve the environmental condition of the Bay. Visit www.santamonicabay.org. Directors • John Dorsey, Loyola Marymount University, Seaver College of Science and Engineering, Department of Natural Science • Shelley L. Luce, Santa Monica Bay Restoration Foundation Advisory Board • Richard G. Plumb, Dean, Loyola Marymount University, Seaver College of Science and Engineering • John M. Carfora, Executive Director, Loyola Marymount University, Office for Research and Sponsored Projects • Shelley L. Luce, Executive Director, Santa Monica Bay Restoration Foundation • Mark Gold, Associate Director, University of California, Los Angeles, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability Submissions Urban Coast is a peer-reviewed publication. Feature articles are generally between 4,000 and 6,000 words, while short submissions are between 1,000 and 3,000. Submissions are accepted for all four sections of the journal, including Perspectives with essays and editorials that review current conditions or policies; Research & Policy features articles on scientific or policy studies; Case Studies are detailed project reports with implications for the urban coastal environment; and Notes & Abstracts include short descriptions of research, policy, and events relevant to our urban coastal environment. Submissions for the Notes & Abstracts section are between 250 and 500 words, and should be an abstract or a short summary about your innovative environmental research, technical study, restoration project, BMP or LID implementation, or other projects. All submissions should be written according to the standards of the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition. References should be placed at the end of the document. Tables and images should be separated from the text. Images should be provided in .tif format, not exceeding a width of five inches and a resolution of 600 dpi (a width of 3,000 pixels). Include the article’s title; the author’s name, phone number and email address; and a two-sentence biographical statement. Article submissions should include a 250-word abstract. Submissions will be accepted on a rolling basis. Feel free to contact us by email to discuss your ideas. Please send manuscripts as .doc attachments via email to: swoodard@water- boards.ca.gov. We welcome submissions for science and policy topics pertinent to the urban coastal environment. Some topics for consideration include: Habitat Preservation and Restoration, Stormwater Issues, Aerial Deposition, Water Conservation/Independence/Quality, Rapid Indicators, BMP Effectiveness, Emerging Contaminants, Low Impact Development, Climate Change, Sustainability, Invasive Species, Resource Management, Environmental Justice, and other pertinent coastal science and policy topics. Sponsors Publication of Urban Coast is made possible in part by the generous sponsorship of Santa Monica Seafood Company, Tidal Influence, Great Ecology, Inc., and Ballona Wetlands Conservancy. Urban Coast applies the Creative Commons Attribution License (CCAL) to all works we publish. Under the CCAL, authors retain ownership of the copyright for their article, but authors allow anyone to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute, and/or copy articles in Urban Coast, so long as the original authors and sources are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers. Use of images, separate from articles, requires permission from and citing of the source. Urban Coast is printed on 100% recycled post consumer waste paper. ISSN 2151-6111 v URBAN COAST 3 | 1 March 2012 Welcome Malibu Lagoon PHOTO: LIA PROTOPAPADAKIS “Science—scientific thinking, scientific method—is, for me, the only philosophical construct that the human race has developed to determine what is reliably true.” Sir Harry Kroto, YouTube, September 23, 2010 Letter from the Director In Science We Trust... Maybe Science can be defined as the scientists agree the water is unhealthy and action must be tested, systemized, and accepted taken to repair historic damage to the lagoon so it can support knowledge of general truths or a thriving and diverse community of species and be resilient laws. As John Ruskin (1960) said, to future insults. This restoration project is supported by the “The work of science is to substitute most respected environmental groups in the region, including facts for appearances, and Audubon, Surfrider, Sierra Club, Heal the Bay, and Santa demonstrations for impressions.” Monica BayKeeper. However, the project has suffered delays However, when it comes time to from a small but vocal group whose opposition is based on apply science, the tested and accepted knowledge may not opinion and impressions, and not justified by science. The fit with strongly held impressions or opinions, and then we result is delayed action, continued damage to lagoon plants find ourselves in conflict. We have seen this writ large in the and animals, and escalating costs. Thankfully, the most recent politicized debate over climate change, and in recent work court ruling affirms the robust science behind the restoration that the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission and plan and allows the project to proceed in the summer of 2012. others are doing to repair and enhance coastal wetlands in Los Angeles County. It seems to be human nature to reject facts that get in the way of our opinions, but then our opinions get in the way of It is no surprise. After all, there are many variables, interests, good projects and good science. It is the