Status of the Kelp Beds in 2016: Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego Counties Prepared for the Central Region Kelp Survey Consortium and Region Nine Kelp Survey Consortium MBC Applied Environmental Sciences STATUS OF THE KELP BEDS IN 2016: Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego Counties Prepared for: Central Region Kelp Survey Consortium and Region Nine Kelp Survey Consortium Prepared by: MBC Applied Environmental Sciences 3000 Red Hill Avenue Costa Mesa, California 92626 August 14, 2017 PROJECT STAFF Central Region Kelp Survey Consortium Gaby Cepeda-Rizo, John Doyle Chevron Products Company Craig Campbell City of Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation David Lutz, Scott Johnson City of Oxnard Wastewater Treatment Plant Katherine Rubin Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Shelly Walther (Chair) Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts William Baker NRG Energy Steve Odabashian NRG El Segundo Operations, Inc. Michael Mengel Orange County Sanitation District Region Nine Kelp Survey Consortium Nicki Branch, Vasana Vipatapat City of Escondido Martin Popma City of Oceanside Robin Gartman (Chair), Timothy Stebbins City of San Diego Public Utilities Dept. Ryan Goerl Cabrillo Power I LLC, Encina Power Doug Campbell, Jeff Parks Encina Wastewater Authority Owni Toma Fallbrook Public Utility District Gary Merrill, Rebecca Bray Genentech Michelle Powelson Poseidon Water Adam Hoch, Mike Thornton San Elijo Joint Powers Authority Keith Bacon, Brennon Flahive South Orange County Wastewater Authority Kim Anthony Southern California Edison, SONGS Steve Smullen U.S. Intl. Boundary & Water Commission MBC Applied Environmental Sciences Project Manager — D.S. Beck Marine Scientists D.S. Beck J.L. Rankin C. Conlogue D.J. Schuessler M.D. Curtis J.J. Sloan W.H. Dossett B.L. Smith R.H. Moore J.N. Smith M.R. Pavlick D.G. Vilas J.M. Lyons Cover photograph courtesy of D.J. Schuessler Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................ I INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 1 HISTORICAL KELP SURVEYS 2003–2016 ................................................................................... 3 DESCRIPTION OF THE CENTRAL REGION KELP BEDS ........................................................... 4 DESCRIPTION OF THE REGION NINE KELP BEDS .................................................................... 7 MATERIALS AND METHODS .................................................................................................. 9 RESULTS ................................................................................................................................ 12 WATER TEMPERATURES AND NUTRIENTS ............................................................................. 12 INDICES ........................................................................................................................................ 20 WAVE HEIGHTS ........................................................................................................................... 22 RAINFALL AND PHYTOPLANKTON ............................................................................................ 22 2016 QUARTERLY OVERFLIGHT SUMMARY ............................................................................ 29 2016 VESSEL SURVEY SUMMARY ............................................................................................ 29 2016 KELP CANOPY SUMMARY ................................................................................................. 32 STATUS OF THE 50 KELP BEDS ALONG THE CENTRAL REGION AND REGION NINE THROUGH 2016 ................................................................................................................ 32 CENTRAL REGION KELP SURVEYS ............................................................................... 32 REGION NINE KELP SURVEYS ....................................................................................... 46 UPDATE TO THE PRESENT ........................................................................................................ 58 DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................................... 59 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................... 70 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................ 71 MBC Applied Environmental Sciences Page iii Status of the Kelp Beds in 2016 List of Figures Figure 1. Ocean discharges located within the Central Region kelp survey area. .......................... 1 Figure 2. Ocean discharges located within the Region Nine kelp survey area. .............................. 2 Figure 3. Administrative kelp bed leases in the Central Region study area. Beds 18 and 19 are upcoast from the CRKSC study area, and therefore not addressed in this report ................. 6 Figure 4. Administrative kelp bed lease areas in the Region Nine study area. ............................... 7 Figure 5. Nutrient Quotient (NQ) values in the Central Region, 2002–2016. “NQ values are calculated from SSTs collected from these locations: Point Dume (Pt. Dume), Santa Monica Pier (SM Pier), and Newport Beach (Newport Pier). Dashed line is the mean NQ for the years shown. ............................................................................................................. 13 Figure 6. Nutrient Quotient (NQ) values in Region Nine, 1967–2016. NQ values are calculated from SSTs collect at these locations: Newport Beach (Newport Pier), San Clemente Pier (SC Pier), Scripps Pier (La Jolla), and the Point Loma South CDIP Buoy (Pt. Loma). Dashed line is the mean NQ for the years shown. ............................................................... 14 Figure 7. Sea surface temperatures (SSTs) at Point (Pt.) Dume, Santa Monica (SM) Pier, Newport Pier, and Scripps (SIO) Pier for 2016, and the long-term (1917-2016) harmonic mean from SIO Pier. ............................................................................................................. 15 Figure 8. Sea surface temperatures (SSTs) at Newport Pier, San Clemente (SC) Pier, Scripps (SIO) Pier, and Point (Pt.) Loma South (S) for 2016, and the long-term (1917-2016) harmonic mean from SIO Pier. ............................................................................................. 15 Figure 9. Sea surface temperatures (SSTs) off Palos Verdes at (A) Station PVN and (B) Station PVS in 2016. Source: LACSD (2017)....................................................................... 16 Figure 10. (A) Daily Upwelling Index (UI) at 33°N 119°W. The dashed curve is a smoothed biharmonic fit to the daily UI from 1967–1991. The purple area represents one standard error, and the yellow bars are monthly means. Units are cubic meters per second per 100 meters of coastline. (B) UI anomaly at 33°N 199°W (2016) compared to the 70-year monthly mean from 1946–2015). Source: (NOAA PFEG 2017)........................................... 17 Figure 11. Temperatures (°C) throughout the water column (near surface to a depth of 60 m) off Point Loma during 2016. White bars indicate no data available. Source: CSD (2017). .............................................................................................................................................. 19 Figure 12. The PDO, NPGO, and MEI from Jan. 1983–Dec. 2016. Data from Di Lorenzo (2017), Mantua (2017) and NOAA-ESRL (2017). ................................................................ 21 Figure 13. Wave height (blue) and direction (red) at (A) Anacapa Passage Buoy and (B) San Pedro Buoy from January 2016 through December 2016. Data from CDIP (2017). ............ 23 Figure 14. Wave height (blue) and direction (red) at (A) Oceanside Buoy and (B) Point Loma Buoy (bottom) from January 2016 through December 2016. Data from CDIP (2017). ........ 24 Figure 15. Swell height and direction in the SCB, 1 February 2016. Source: CDIP (2017). ......... 25 Figure 16. Swell height and direction in the SCB, 8 March 2016. Source: CDIP (2017). ............. 26 Figure 17. Monthly 2016 rainfall and average monthly rainfall recorded for (A) Los Angeles International Airport (Los Angeles), (B) Costa Mesa, and (C) Lindbergh Field (San Diego). Monthly averages include: LAX: 1936-2016; Costa Mesa: 1955-2016; and San Diego: 1939-2016. Sources: NOAA CNRFC (2017) and OCPW (2017). ............................. 27 Figure 18. Concentrations of harmful algal bloom (HAB) species at (A) Santa Monica Pier and (B) Newport Pier in 2016. Source: SCCOOS (2017). ........................................................... 28 Figure 19. Combined canopy coverage of all kelp beds in the Central Region from Ventura to Newport Harbor/Irvine Coast. ............................................................................................... 33 Figure 20. Average Bed Area Per Year (ABAPY) for four different areas: from 2003 through 2016 for (1) offshore north and central Los Angeles County, and (2) Malibu to Sunset; and from 1967 through 2016 for (1) offshore Orange County, and (2) offshore San Diego County (minus La Jolla and Point Loma). ............................................................................. 33 Page iv MBC Applied Environmental Sciences Status of the Kelp Beds in 2016 Figure 21. Comparisons between