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MBNMS Ecosystem Observations 2006 ECOSYSTEM OBSERVATIONS For the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary 2006 Table of Contents Sanctuary Program Activities ................................................... 1-4 SIMoN Says .............................................................................. 4-5 In Memoriam Contributed Ecosystem Observations Intertidal and Subtidal Marine Research Surveys ith sadness we learned along the Big Sur Coastline ................................................. 6-7 of the passing of W Geographic Patterns of Kelp Forest Daphne M. White, a former Community Structure ........................................................... 7-8 colleague, on January 1, 2007. Daphne worked for NOAA in Sand Waves of the Golden Gate ........................................... 8-9 a variety of positions from Estuaries as Nursery Habitat for Juvenile Flatfishes .......... 9-10 1975 to 1993. In 1990, she Ecological Impacts of Artificially Restricted came to the Monterey area to Tidal Exchange at Elkhorn Slough .................................. 10-11 help establish the Monterey Hydrodynamics Research in Elkhorn Slough .................. 11-12 Bay National Marine Sanctuary and was instrumental in Ocean Ecosystems and the Carbon Dioxide Invasion ...... 12-13 shaping its early years. After her retirement in 1993, she con- tinued to volunteer for sanctuary conservation and education Surface Current Mapping with High-Frequency Radar: activities. Daphne was a great supporter of this publication Building the Tools for Hazardous Spill Response ........... 13-14 and helped edit it for many years. In honor of her memory Marine Mammals off Our Coast: and contributions to the sanctuary, we dedicate this issue A Summary of CSCAPE 2005 ......................................... 15-16 to Daphne. Sharks, Rays and Chimaeras of the Sanctuary ................. 16-17 USS Macon Expedition 2006 ........................................... 17-18 Welcome his was an incredible year for the Monterey Bay National hearings completed. All of these projects herald major new initia- Marine Sanctuary – one in which many major long- tives and directions for the Monterey Bay sanctuary in the coming Tplanned projects led by our staff and community partners decade; you can read more about them in the following articles. became a reality. Major projects that came to fruition in 2006 This year also brought some internal changes. William Douros, include the opening of a new visitor center near our southern superintendent since 1998, moved on to a new position as boundary, the Coastal Discovery Center at San Simeon Bay and regional superintendent of West Coast Sanctuaries, overseeing our first archeological cruise to map one of the many historic the five sanctuaries on the west coast. We had the privilege of sites in the sanctuary, the submerged wreck of the USS Macon. each taking a six-month turn at the sanctuary’s helm during We also welcomed the arrival and dedication of our new this transition period of 2006. It has been an exciting ride, and 67-foot research vessel, the Fulmar, which will greatly expand we look forward to continued successes by the program staff our capabilities for doing research in the sanctuary’s offshore and their many partners in the coming year. waters. In addition, at long last, the Draft Joint Management Plan –HOLLY PRICE AND KAREN GRIMMER, ACTING SUPERINTENDENTS for the three central coast sanctuaries was released and public NOAA’S MONTEREY BAY NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY 2006 Program Activities for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary esignated in 1992, the Monterey Bay National life, from tiny plankton to huge blue whales, thrives in these Marine Sanctuary is our nation’s second largest waters. Dmarine protected area and is managed by the Our mission – to understand and protect the coastal ecosystem National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). and cultural resources of the Monterey Bay sanctuary – is carried Located off central California, the sanctuary features wave- out through resource protection, education and outreach, research swept beaches, lush kelp forests and one of the deepest and monitoring, and program operations. Following is a summary underwater canyons in North America. An abundance of of each program’s major accomplishments during 2006. 1 Resource Protection esource protection issues in the sanctuary are wide ranging, California’s Marine Life Protection Act Initiative to design MPAs in from pollution and coastal development to wildlife or ecosys- state waters of the sanctuary. Rtem disturbance. The resource protection team works with its The Water Quality Protection Program led efforts in the watersheds partners to reduce or prevent detrimental human impacts on sanctuary to reduce contaminated runoff to the sanctuary from agricultural and resources, while recognizing the many uses of the marine environment urban areas. The Agriculture Water Quality Alliance, a coalition of along its long coastline. groups working to carry out the sanctuary’s Agriculture and Rural In the past year, we continued to address the spread of coastal Lands Plan, completed six years of delivering a 15-hour Farm Water armoring such as seawalls and riprap along beaches, focusing on Quality Planning Course, educating more than 1,700 farmers about southern Monterey Bay. A multi-stakeholder group completed an water quality and conservation practices to prevent pollution. assessment of options available for responding to erosion while mini- Monitoring data collected by Sanctuary Citizen Watershed mizing impacts to beaches. In coordination with the Association of Monitoring Network volunteers over the years resulted in the initia- Monterey Bay Area Governments, we also completed an evaluation tion of two new water quality studies. Based on historical results from the annual Snapshot Day, a targeted long-term monitoring program was initiated in two Salinas drainages to understand urban and agri- cultural impacts better. Similarly, high metal concentrations detected during First Flush events led to a copper/zinc source tracking study Photo by MBNMS/NOAA in a local urban watershed. Staff gained experience in responding to another type of pollution, catastrophic oil spills, by participating in ‘Safe Seas 2006,’ a major interagency oil-spill drill led by NOAA in collaboration with the U.S. Coast Guard and the State of California. A series of drills over the summer offered training in evaluation of habitat and species impacts, oil-spill response protocols, communications, and field and command center operations. Our enforcement staff received more than 200 notifications of potential violations during 2006 and investigated a variety of incidents Sanctuary ‘Volunteer of the Year’ Mary Buck Scannell including discharges, wildlife disturbance and vessel groundings. A monitors water quality. settlement of $3 million was received from the parties responsible for of the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of seawater discharging 15 large shipping containers into the sanctuary. The funds desalination projects in the Monterey Bay region. will be used to fund projects to protect and restore the seabed. A working group of scientists, environmentalists, fishermen and As we head into 2007, the resource protection team looks forward other ocean users continued to evaluate the potential utility and to working with its many partners on existing efforts and new pro- design of marine protected areas (MPAs) in federal waters of the grams to carry out the recommendations in the new Monterey Bay sanctuary. Staff also participated extensively with the State of Sanctuary Management Plan. Research he purpose of the research program is to address resource protect the wreck will proceed by nominating the site for inclusion in management needs for scientific information. With a large the National Register of Historic Places. Tsanctuary and many human impacts to diverse habitats, the One of the more ominous threats to the sanctuary is a large oil spill. job of providing scientific insight is significant. Fortunately, we ben- Our research team contributed to the ‘Safe Seas 2006’ multi-agency efit from the knowledge of world-class marine scientists through the sanctuary’s Research Activity Panel and the Sanctuary Integrated Monitoring Network (SIMoN) Science Committee. In this summary, we provide a flavor of the research program by highlighting some of our 2006 accomplishments. The sanctuary led two important cruises aboard the Monterey MBARI © MBNMS/NOAA, Bay Aquarium Research Institute’s (MBARI) R/V Western Flyer. In January, we studied coral distribution patterns on Davidson Seamount, while guiding the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to locations for filming deep-sea corals. The BBC also searched in the Atlantic Ocean and around Hawaii before finding the dramatic coral images needed for the production of Planet Earth, to be released in the United States in 2007. As we develop a taxo- nomic guide for Davidson Seamount we have, so far, discovered 15 new species: nine sponges, five corals and one hydroid. Later in the year, we revisited and completed a photo mosaic of the rigid airship, USS Macon, working with our collaborators. This submerged cultural Current meter placed near corals and sponges at the top of resource received national attention, and the sanctuary mandate to Davidson Seamount to measure local currents 2 exercise, overseeing a contract to update of Elkhorn Slough related to tidal erosion, the Atlas of the Sensitivity of Coastal and the biological sensitivity
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