Research Activity Panel: Meeting Minutes
California Department of Fish and Game Office, Monterey
Friday  September 12, 1997
09:00 - 12:00


Introduction of members and guests (G. Cailliet)

Institution Representatives
	Greg Cailliet, Moss Landing Marine Labs- Chair
	Andrew DeVogelaere, MBNMS- RAP Coordinator
	Lisa Ziobro, MBNMS- SAC Coordinator

	Jane Caffrey, ESNERR and ESF
	Michael Field, USGS
	Steve Eittreim, USGS
	Chris Harrold, Monterey Bay Aquarium 
	Deborah Johnston, CDFG/ Monterey
	Rikk Kvitek, CSUMB
	Jan Roletto, GF, CB, MBNMS
	Leslie Rosenfeld, Naval Postgraduate School
At-Large
	Caroline Pomeroy, UCSC/CSUMB
Special Advisors
	Gary Sharp, CIRIOS

Guests:
	Dave VenTresca, CDFG/Monterey
	Frank Schwing, NOAA/NMFS/PFEL
	John Smiley, UCSC/BCER
	Kim Paulsen, CDFG
	Karin Strasser Kauffman, MBNMS SAC
	Bill Durous, Santa Barbara County
	David Ebert, US Abalone
	John Robinson, MBNMS
	Jenny Carless, MBNMS Newsletter

CONSENT ITEMS

Modifications to the agenda (G. Cailliet)

Addition under short information items:  Cooperative Institute opportunities 
with NOS.


Approval of the minutes for August 1997 (G. Cailliet)

The draft minutes from the August 8, 1997 meeting were approved with 
modifications.

PRESENTATIONS

Overview of the Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve (John Smiley)

John Smiley, Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve Manager, presented an 
overview of the reserve program.  Big Creek is a 4,000-acre terrestrial reserve 
in the University of California System, combined with a marine reserve 
designated by the California Department of Fish and Game.

The reserve has been set aside for teaching and research and is not open to the 
public; however, annual open houses are held on the premises.  There is a 
cooperative agreement that allows fishermen to use the site to launch their 
boats from the reserve.

The reserve has active marine research projects, including: habitat mapping 
(NMFS/MLML/Sea Grant/MBNMS), monitoring and developing species lists 
for assessing change (HMS/UCSC), determining the appropriate reserve size 
for fishery replenishment zones (CDFG/Sea Grant/MLML/NMFS), and using 
local fishermen to collect fisheries data (UCSC).

Fishing pressure has increased in the area during the past two years.  While 
fishermen generally respect the rules of the reserve, there has been confusion 
regarding the boundaries.  Currently, the northern and southern boundaries 
are marked by orange-red, six-foot diameter triangles placed on land about 100 
feet above the ocean. Dave VenTresca is making buoys to mark the north, 
south, and west boundaries of the reserve, and is looking for funding to put 
them in place and to maintain them.  He requested help from the SAC and 
Conservation Working Group to find the means (approximately $1,000) to 
place the buoys.  Some RAP members commented that the maintenance of 
buoys can be very expensive.

John Smiley stated he presently operates three weather stations, but with 
limited support and maintenance due to funding.  Leslie Rosenfeld, NPS, 
indicated that her department was very interested in supporting such stations
and offered to help John improve his monitoring capabilities and add the 
data into the REINAS system.  On the subject of mapping the land and 
marine reserves, John indicated he had a fairly old computer running early 
geographical software.  Rikk Kvitek, CSUMB, offered to help John with 
improving his computer facilities and GIS capabilities.


Marine protected areas and fish at the Big Creek Reserve (Dave VenTresca)

Dave VenTresca, CDFG, gave a presentation on his project within Big Creek 
Reserve.  The objectives of his project are to:

1. Establish a baseline of fish abundances;
2. Produce a bathymetric/habitat map of BCER;
3. To document species composition, size frequencies, and catch-per-unit-
effort of the present commercial skiff and Commercial Passenger Fishing 
Vessel fisheries in the areas adjacent to BCER;
4. Compare fish population data collected at BCER during this project with 
limited data collected at BCER in earlier years.

Dave is targeting fish that are most impacted by fishing: long-lived, 
residential, and slow to mature; he is counting adults and sub-adults.  Results 
from last yearŐs cruise indicate that there are more fish in the reserve than 
outside the reserve.  However, Dave is unsure whether these results are due 
to protection or differences in habitat availability.  He will be measuring 
environmental parameters to help tease-out potential confounding factors.

El Nino: here we go again (F. Schwing)

Frank Schwing, PFEL staff, gave a presentation on El Nino.  Even though 
patterns that appear to be related to El Nino are evident on the California 
coast, they cannot necessarily be attributed to the El Nino the tropics are 
experiencing.  The northeast Pacific off California has experienced a local 
warming since early 1995 that is due to unusual wind patterns seemingly 
unrelated to El Nino, though the effects will be the same.  Frank explained 
the El Nino "symptom" -- tropical fish making their way to central California 
waters -- is not due to their transport by warm currents from the equator, but 
rather is due to their warm water range being expanded north due to a 
reduction in open ocean upwelling.

If the local warming is coupled with El Nino, the effects on the California 
coast could be more stronger than expected.

Frank concluded his presentation by suggesting that ecologically there is a 
need to look at climate change issues in addition to El Nino issues.

DISCUSSION

El Nino (M. Field)

Michael Field, USGS, explained that in anticipation of major winter rains and 
flooding, USGS has begun surveys to gather baseline information.  In this 
respect, Michael suggested the need to start coordinating data among agencies 
who are tracking the effects of El Nino, and would like to use the RAP to do 
so.  Andrew De Vogelaere will move this effort forward.

Comments on draft section for the "Sea Life Reserves" Keeley Bill (J. 
Robinson)

A draft of marine protected area legislation was presented to the RAP for 
comment.  It was agreed that Caroline Pomeroy and Greg Cailliet would bring 
the document for discussion at an upcoming fisheries conference.

Gray Whale harvest in Washington: a request for comments from the SAC 
Chair (A. De Vogelaere)

The Makah tribe in the state of Washington has requested permission to 
harvest five gray whales per year.  Karin Strasser Kauffman has been 
contacted by environmental groups within California in opposition to the 
request; she would like input from the research community regarding this 
issue.

The RAP felt this was largely a social/economic issue, and should be 
coordinated with the Conservation Working Group and SRD Headquarters.  
After some discussion, Greg asked Andrew to compile a list of science issues 
that should be considered in the decision.  This list would be comented on by 
the RAP, forwarded to Greg and on to Karin for the next SAC meeting.

SHORT INFORMATION ITEMS

Verbal items:

Nancy Foster, National Ocean Service, to visit Monterey Bay (A. De 
Vogelaere)

Nancy Foster will be in Monterey on September 15, 1997 to attend the 
Sanctuary Reception being held at Sea Studios, 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Common Murre die off in Monterey Bay: detection and response (A. De 
Vogelaere)

Andrew provided an update on the common murre die-off in Monterey Bay.  
Over 400 dead birds were identified in August.  Several hypotheses have been 
eliminated, leaving possible causes as an increase in set net effort or the 
localized red tide phenomenon.




Study of the Ft. Ord Exclusion Zone Complete (Kim Paulsen)

The report is complete and the study found relatively low levels of 
contaminants.

Cooperative Institute opportunities with NOS (Gary Sharp)

The formation of a cooperative agreement might be a mechanism to get 
funding from NOAA for Sanctuary research.  A small group of people who 
represent institutions and projects is needed to get this project moving 
forward.

MBNMS Birthday Celebration

Monterey - September 14, 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., Cannery Row
Santa Cruz - September 20, 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Santa Cruz Wharf

SAC Positions are open

Sound in the Sea Bibliography (A. De Vogelaere/M. Jacobi)

The document is complete.

The Sanctuary Scientific Research Plan (A. De Vogelaere/M. Jacobi)

Authors have been sent their appendices listing needed research for different 
disciplines. They will comment on if they should be updates with the same 
survey process as in the first edition.  Comments are due at the end of 
September.

UCSC RAP alternate (G. Griggs)

Dan Costa has been appointed the RAP Member Alternate position for the 
University of California at Santa Cruz.

MBNMS Research Coordinator contract (J. Flanders)

Andrew De VogelaereŐs bid for the Research Coordinator contract was 
accepted.

"Natural History of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary" (A. De 
Vogelaere)

This book was just published.  Copies will be made available to RAP 
members.

Research institution Video (K. Evans)

A formal project description is being drafted.  It will be available for RAP 
review at the next meeting.

Handouts available:
	NMS Research Reports
	Permit Report
	News article on common murre die-off
	News article on the proposed whale hunt
	Ft. Ord exclusion zone report


New Business

No October meeting; next meeting scheduled tentatively for November 21.

ADJOURN




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