SCCWRP 2016 ANNUAL REPORT Dedicated partners, insightful results Bight ’13 cooperative monitoring helps illuminate regional ecosystem condition CW SC R P SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COASTAL WATER RESEARCH PROJECT A Public Agency for Environmental Research Es 69 tablished 19 Welcome to the interactive version of SCCWRP’s 2016 Annual Report! Click on the links below to jump directly to specific areas of the report. To request a printed copy of this report, [email protected] . Contents SCCWRP 2016 ANNUAL REPORT INTRODUCTION 2 | EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Snapshot of success 4 | DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE: Regional monitoring’s hidden value FEATURE ARTICLES 5 | CONTAMINANT IMPACT ASSESSMENT: Tracking contamination’s ecosystem impacts 12 | TRASH AND MARINE DEBRIS: Overhauling trash management 19 | WATER QUALITY: Corrosive waters’ creep Courtesy of Amec Foster Wheeler A field crew from the Southern California Bight 2013 Regional Monitoring Program uses a grab sampler to collect sediment from the San Diego Bay seafloor. Through this cooperative monitoring program, environmental managers track how sediment contamination has impacted coastal ecosystems. Page 5 Southern California Coastal Water Research Project 2016 Annual Report ACCOMPLISHMENTS WITH JOURNAL ABSTRACTS Editor Stephen B. Weisberg, Ph.D. 27 | Overview Managing Editor 28 | Bioassessment Scott Martindale 31 | Ecohydrology Cover Photo 33 | Eutrophication A double Van Veen grab sampler is used to retrieve seafloor sediment as 38 | Climate Change part of the Southern California Bight 41 | Sediment Quality 2013 Regional Monitoring Program. 44 | Contaminants of Emerging Concern Copyright 2016 50 | Microbial Water Quality Southern California Coastal Water Research Project Authority 57 | Regional Monitoring 62 | Information Technology and Visualization 3535 Harbor Blvd., Suite 110 Costa Mesa, CA 92626 63 | Scientific Leadership www.sccwrp.org Printed on recycled paper PEOPLE 66 | SCCWRP Commissioners and CTAG Representatives 68 | SCCWRP staff Return to Table of Contents SCCWRP 2016 Annual Report 1 Snapshot of Success Steps taken by SCCWRP to improve aquatic science research and water-quality management in 2016 Scientific Scientific 1 credibility 2 consensus-building Goal: Establish and maintain credibility with Goal: Promote consensus-building through colleagues in the aquatic science community scientific collaboration and leadership SCCWRP can more effectively transition science into The most expeditious path for the water-quality management application when the agency engenders credibility with community to incorporate scientific findings into decision- scientific peers. SCCWRP uses two primary metrics to making is for scientists to achieve consensus. SCCWRP quantify success in this area: facilitates consensus-building through: » Publication rate » Citation rate » Leadership » Collaboration Publishing prolifically Whereas the number of Attaining leadership roles External interactions, in scientific journals is publications quantifies with professional scientific especially in leadership an important measure productivity, citation rate organizations enhances capacities, often translate of scientific success, provides a measure of how SCCWRP’s opportunities for to collaborative scientific as these articles go widely read SCCWRP’s interactions and publications. The number of through a rigorous peer work is and the degree to consensus-building in the external organizations with review process. A robust which it is influencing other aquatic sciences. which SCCWRP coauthors publication rate scientists. SCCWRP’s goal scientific publications is a engenders credibility for is for other scientists to Accomplishment reflect of SCCWRP’s success SCCWRP in the broader reference SCCWRP’s work SCCWRP scientific staff in building consensus. scientific community. when publishing their own. held 115 leadership roles with professional Accomplishment Accomplishment Accomplishment societies, advisory SCCWRP published SCCWRP scientific staff SCCWRP publications committees, and scientific articles published an average were cited 22% more scientific journals in and reports with 114 of 3.1 journal articles frequently in 2016 2016. Page 63 different institutions in each per year over the than the average for 2016. Page 27 past three years. This the aquatic sciences compares favorably discipline, and 2.6% of with the 2 publications SCCWRP publications in per year minimum that 2016 appeared in the top SCCWRP’s partners 1% of all articles cited in at academic research the aquatic sciences. institutions generally seek to achieve when being considered for promotion. Page 27 What SCCWRP seeks to achieve » Translate aquatic science research into management applications » Optimally position the water-quality management community to benefit from scientific research » Positively influence how aquatic systems are managed in Southern California and beyond 2 SCCWRP 2016 Annual Report Return to Table of Contents Management Long-term 3 influence 4 support Goal: Positively influence decision-making Goal: Provide technical support and expertise and actions by the end-user water-quality to SCCWRP’s 14 member agencies to maximize management community their adoption and use of science Scientific credibility and consensus-building are important While influencing management decision-making is a waypoints along SCCWRP’s journey to produce science that signature SCCWRP accomplishment, SCCWRP maximizes positively influences management. The three feature articles the effectiveness of this influence by providing long-term in this report illustrate how SCCWRP – as facilitator of the guidance and assistance to its 14 member agencies. Southern California Bight Regional Monitoring Program – helps the region’s water-quality management community » Training refine and evolve strategies to better protect Southern SCCWRP develops user-friendly California’s coastal ocean. instruction materials and conducts hands-on training to » Characterizing the issue ensure managers are properly SCCWRP helps Bight managers design robust environmental educated about new tools monitoring studies that illuminate potential threats to coastal and technologies. ecosystems, as well as document improvements over time. » Intercalibration » Developing tools and technology SCCWRP facilitates SCCWRP helps develop new approaches and methods to intercalibration and improve the speed, accuracy and cost of Bight monitoring. quality-assurance exercises to ensure managers can » Assessing effectiveness of management actions demonstrate proficiency using SCCWRP helps Bight managers craft strategies to gauge the new tools and technologies. effectiveness of their actions and to inform next steps. » Vetting Accomplishment SCCWRP facilitates case SCCWRP helped managers position studies and expert advisory Bight contaminant bioaccumulation committees to fully vet new data to be used as a key technical tools and technologies. foundation for an ongoing expansion of the State Water Board’s Sediment » Outreach Quality Objectives program. SCCWRP conducts outreach activities to ensure managers Accomplishment and stakeholders buy into and SCCWRP helped managers develop a fully embrace new approaches rigorous regional baseline for debris and technologies. across aquatic environments that can serve as a benchmark for evaluating SCCWRP prides itself on the long-term support it provides future success of new statewide trash to member agencies through programs like Bight regional reduction initiatives. monitoring. Accomplishment Accomplishment SCCWRP helped capture key data sets SCCWRP staff spent more than 6,000 person-hours in on Bight ocean acidification conditions 2016 providing implementation support for Bight ’13. that will feed into a West Coast ocean acidification model being built to improve managers’ understanding of how corrosive waters will impact coastal ecosystems. Return to Table of Contents SCCWRP 2016 Annual Report 3 Director’s Message Regional monitoring’s hidden value This year’s Annual Report is focused on outcomes of the Southern California Bight Regional Monitoring Program, which my Commissioners consistently tell me is SCCWRP’s most valuable endeavor. Through this 22-year-old initiative, environmental managers and researchers from across Southern California come together to evaluate their collective effectiveness as environmental stewards of our Bight resources. This regional assessment of condition, however, touches only the surface of Bight regional monitoring’s value. Our member agencies derive other less obvious benefits from their participation in this marquee program – hidden benefits that underscore the value of regional monitoring. Most prominent among these are the Bight program’s method standardization activities. The Bight program is a collaborative model, in which participants contribute field sampling and laboratory analytical capabilities instead of contracting with a single organization to do it all. As a result, we take steps to ensure that the data produced by these many organizations are comparable enough to be compiled into a unified data set; we do this through training, and then we verify with audits and laboratory intercalibrations. Field collection teams go through checkout cruises, and laboratories are required to process blind samples. Commissioners remind me that these studies serve to independently evaluate the quality of all data being produced by their lab and field teams, transcending the Bight program, which represents only a small fraction of