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Session Abstracts
Saturday, March 18, 2000
Welcome
Stephanie Harlan, Boardmember, Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments; Councilmember, City of Capitola
Moderators: Dr. Gregor M. Cailliet, Chair, Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Research Activities Panel; Professor of Biology, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories
Dr. Steven Webster, Chair Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council; Senior Marine Biologist, Monterey Bay Aquarium
Something
Fishy: Human Dimensions of Ecosystem Change in the Monterey Bay
Dr. Caroline
Pomeroy, Research Scientist Institute of Marine Sciences, University
of California Santa Cruz
Tim Thomas, Museum Historian/Director of Public Programs Maritime Museum,
Monterey, California
In 1880,
to avoid a conflict with the newly arrived Genovese fishermen, Chinese
fishermen began to fish squid at night in Monterey Bay. By doing so,
they set in motion one of the most colorful and controversial fisheries
in California's history. Fishermen and scientists alike have been chasing
the elusive squid for over a century, each with their own agenda. Over
that time, many diverse cultural groups have fished for this nocturnal
mollusk, adapting technologies, practices and products to ever-changing
environmental, market and political conditions. The history of the fishery
and its changing character provide useful insights into ecosystem change
in the Monterey Bay.
The
Response of the Sanctuary's Pelagic Ecosystem to Climate Variability
Dr. Francisco
Chavez, Associate Scientist Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute,
Moss Landing, California
In order
to understand how ocean ecosystems respond to climate variability we
need to first determine what are and what leads to mean conditions.
These requirements are best met with continuous sustained observations.
Traditional ship-based process studies are inherently sporadic, and
provide still 'snapshots' of ocean conditions. Our group has focused
on dynamics and change, and attempted to observe the ocean at multiple
temporal scales. In 1989 we began with small-scale biweekly cruises
measuring physical, chemical and biological variables. This data set
is now an invaluable, decade-long time series; it has allowed us to
understand and document the interrelations between the variables that
control phytoplankton production in Monterey Bay with observations over
forty seasons, two El Nino's, one La Nina, and one decade
of climate change. In 1992 we deployed 2 moorings which telemeter data
to MBARI where it is automatically processed, plotted, and distributed
on the World Wide Web. This has in part been a technology-development
effort, but the moorings are able to collect data at many times the
resolution of the biweekly cruises as well as partly eliminate the human
element from the data collection process. Finally, in 1997 we expanded
the spatial scale of our studies to include the California Current proper.
The 'SECRET' cruise series now encompass 16, 1-week cruises from shore
westward to about 300 km. Serendipitously, a very strong El Nino
developed during 1997 and matured late in the year. A dramatic recovery
that led to a cold La NiÒa condition began in late 1998. With
the decade-long time series cruises, the moorings, and the SECRET cruises,
we have been ideally positioned to document the effects of these phenomena
off the central California coast. In this presentation the pelagic ecosystem
and the causes for its biological richness are first reviewed. The focus
is on the seasonal cycle. Interannual and decadal variability are then
considered. The data show clear physical-biological coupling, with warmer
conditions associated with reduced nutrients, centric diatoms, chlorophyll
and primary production. These relations hold both seasonally, with fall
and winter warmer than the spring and summertime upwelling period, interannually
with El Nino warmer and La Nina cooler, and decadally,
with sea surface temperature gradually rising and chlorophyll, primary
production, centric diatoms and subsurface nitrate levels all decreasing
over the ten-year study. During the decade of the 90's the Sanctuary's
upwelling ecosystem has trended towards a less productive, more 'oceanic'
condition.
Patterns
in Benthic Communities Within the Sanctuary
Dr. Stacey
Kim, Adjunct Professor Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Moss Landing,
California
Most of
the ocean bottom is covered with muds and sands, which are inhabited
by infaunal invertebrates and also demersal fishes. Knowledge of these
widespread benthic communities generally decreases with water depth
as the bottom becomes more difficult to observe, sample, and experimentally
manipulate. In addition, the area of seafloor also increases with depth,
so there is a much greater area to explore in deeper water. The present
study is the first to sample benthic communities from the inner shelf
to the deep slope, permitting ecological comparisons that have been
difficult to make in the past because of differences in sampling techniques,
sample processing, taxonomy, and data analysis and presentation. From
the surf zone to 15 m, crustaceans were common; the deeper zone was
dominated by polychaete worms. An unexpectedly diverse and abundant
community was observed at the shelf-slope break (150 m); the occurrence
of a diversity and density hot spot at a major geographic feature could
stimulate a re-evaluation of the processes that regulate benthic diversity.
An ampeliscid amphipod community was found at 700 m, in the middle of
the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ). The ampeliscid community was similar
to some polar and sub-polar benthic communities, and possibly reflects
an underutilized food resource in this region. A peak in polychaete
worm biomass at 1000 m, at the bottom of the OMZ, may also indicate
a region with relatively high inputs of food to the sea floor. Though
analysis of the samples is not yet complete, we have a tantalizing glimpse
of singular patterns and a uniquely valuable data set for comparing
ecosystems from shallow water across the continental shelf into bathyal
depths.
High
School Students as Advocates for Progressive Fisheries Management
Michael
Guardino, Chemistry, Physics and Subtidal Ecology Teacher Carmel High
School, Carmel, California
In order
to take a more active role in their secondary science education and
to become advocates for effective fisheries management, eighteen Carmel
Adult School students became certified as SCUBA divers and employed
the scientific method to identify a conservation issue in the MBNMS
that they could investigate directly. They completed 200 research dives
inside and adjacent to the Point Lobos Reserve in Carmel Bay and established
a data base that describes the abundance, diversity, and age structure
of resident fish populations. The students found significant differences
between the assemblage of fishes at Whalers Cove and South Monastery
Beach after completing site characterizations and analyses of sessile
invertebrate life. Preliminary findings indicate that the establishment
of Marine Protected Areas may become a viable method of progressive
fisheries management for Sebastes species (rockfish) on the Pacific
Coast.
Are
Marine Mammals in Hot Water or Does Hot Water Affect Marine Mammals
Dr. Jim
Harvey, Associate Professor Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Moss Landing,
California
Numerous
marine mammal populations were exploited in the past and their numbers
have made remarkable increases, however, some species have undergone
dramatic decreases in recent years or have not recovered. The California
sea lion, northern elephant seal, and gray whale have increased via
protection and resource health, whereas the Stellar sea lion, Hawaiian
monk seal, and some large baleen whales either have declined or not
recovered because of human influences or changes in the oceanic systems.
In this talk, I will review the history of representative marine mammal
populations in the North Pacific, discuss the factors that effect population
growth and health, and make some predictions on the possible effect
of global changes on marine mammal populations.
The
Sanctuary's Rich and Wonderful Rocky Intertidal: How Has It Changed and
How Do We Know?
Dr. John
Pearse, Research Professor of Biology Joseph M. Long Marine Laboratory,
Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz
The Monterey
Bay region of California has been well known for the luxuriant life
in the rocky intertidal for many years. Nineteenth century naturalists
found it to be a productive collecting area, and the 20th century saw
the proliferation of detailed naturalist guidebooks. Innumerable students
at educational institutions around the Bay have been enthralled by the
beauty of the rocky intertidal life, agreed by all to be among the richest
in the world in terms of abundance and diversity. At the same time,
the past two centuries have seen a proliferation of human activities
detrimental to this life, including waste disposal, collecting, and
perhaps trampling. Signs of deterioration were evident by the end of
the 19th century, and became most conspicuous by the 1970s. Nevertheless,
there have been few long-term studies designed to detect these changes.
The few such studies done over the past 30 years do indicate that conditions
are improving. But for the longer-term, we can only compare earlier
descriptive studies with current conditions. These comparisons provide
evidence of long-term changes which may not be directly related to local
human activity. The only way to understand how the rocky intertidal
biota is faring over time is with well-designed, long-term monitoring
programs. Fortunately, these are now being established around the Bay
so that by the end of the 21st century people will have a much better
idea of the status of this precious living habitat.
Muddy
Handprints: 10,000 Years of Human Environmental Change in the Elkhorn
Slough
Mark Silberstein,
Executive Director Elkhorn Slough Foundation, Moss Landing, California
Elkhorn
Slough in the central Monterey Bay is a microcosm of coastal land uses
seen throughout the United States. It has provided a living laboratory
for studying ecological change since the 1920s when McGinitie did his
pioneering ecological research in the slough. The recent ecological
history of the slough, as with most of the coast, will be dependent
on how we interpret and respond to the lessons of the past and apply
current ecological understanding to managing natural resources.
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