Download Monterey Bay: A Jewel in our own Backyard

Monterey Bay:
A Jewel in Our Own Backyard
ENGR 100w
Spring 2009
Where is Monterey Bay
Why is Monterey Bay Unique
• Monterey submarine canyon is one of the
largest underwater canyons in the world
• Deepest part 3,600 m below the surface
(> 2 miles)
• Shelf ~1 mile below surface (about depth
of Grand Canyon)
• Habitat for many types of marine life
Marine Life
• Nation’s largest kelp
•
forest
33 species of marine
mammals
• 94 species of birds
• 345 species of fish
• invertebrates
Monterey Bay Habitats
• Kelp forest
– Harbor seal, sea otter, rockfish and other fish, octopus, sea
stars, snails, cormorants
• Sandy beaches
– Shrimp, sand crabs, birds, topsmelt
• Coastal dunes
– Salt grass, geese and other birds
• Rocky intertidal
– Tide pools: snails, crabs, sea stars, anemones, chitons, limpids,
mussels, etc.
• Deep ocean
– Tuna, whales, shark, sea turtle, elephant seal, jellies, sea
cucumber, lobster
Historical Context
• Site of John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row
• Sardines were abundant in the early part of 1900s
• Largest fishery in Western hemisphere
– 726,000 tons of sardines during the peak season of 1936
• 19 canneries in Monterey
• 1940s – sardines disappeared – became like a
•
ghost town
Sardines are returning – seems to be a natural
cycle
– 50,000 tons of sardines in 2004
Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary
• Federally protected
•
•
•
marine area
Designated in 1992
13,730 square kilometers
(5360 square miles)
Larger than Yellowstone
or Yosemite National Park
Purpose of Marine Sanctuary
• Protect resources
– marine life, kelp forest, beaches, etc.
• Preserve cultural landmarks
– shipwrecks, prehistoric archeological sites, etc.
• Research
– monitor health of marine species
– changes in habitats
– seafloor mapping
• Education
• Public use
Marine Sanctuary Management
• No oil drilling
• No dumping
• Fishing regulated
• Wastewater regulated
Current Issues in Monterey Bay
• Agricultural runoff
– pesticides, sediment, chemicals such as
nitrogen & phosphorous, bacteria
• Urban runoff (storm water)
– oil, grease, pesticides, herbicides, soil, pet
droppings, etc.
• Kelp harvesting
• Desalination
• CO2 absorption  low oxygen dead zones
• Shipping
Albatross
• Eat squid and fish eggs floating
•
•
•
•
on water
Floating plastics look like food
Pick it up and feed to young
40% of Laysan albatross chicks
die from eating plastic bottle
caps
Found in a baby chick stomach
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/oc
eanissues/plastics_albatross/makana.aspx
– “red, blue and orange bottle
caps, a black spray nozzle, part of
a green comb, a white golf tee
Plastics from one albatross stomach
and a clump of tiny dark squid
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/oceanissues/plastics_albatross
/makana.aspx
beaks ensnared in a tangle of
fishing line” (Weiss, 2006)
Sea Otter
Credit: Scott Roland
www.defenders.org/wildlife_and_habitat/
wildlife/sea_otter.php
• Largest member of weasel family (45-65 lbs)
• Eat 25 % of weight each day
– Sea urchins, abalone, mussels, clams, crabs, snails, & ~40 other
marine species
• Important to health of kelp forest
– Eats sea urchins, which feed on kelp
• Fur is most dense of any animal ~1 million hairs/in2
• Population devastated by fur trading in 19th century
– 300,000  ~1000-2000 in early 1900s
– 2,750 in California in 2006
Sea Otter –
Keystone Species
randsco.com/index.php/2006/07/06/
vancouver_island
• Listed as “threatened” under federal Endangered
•
•
Species Act
“Fully protected” under California state law
Threats
– Oil spills, habitat loss and degradation, food limitation, disease,
fishing gear entrapment, conflict with shellfish fisheries
• Toxoplasma gondii causes protozoal encephalitis
– Enters ecosystem through improper disposal of cat litter
• Oil spills
– Mats fur  fur cannot retain air  die of hypothermia
– 1989 Exxon Valdez – 1000 sea otters died
• Where sea otters have disappeared, so have the kelp
forests (keystone)
Desalination
Desalination plant
montereybay.noaa.gov/resourcepro/resmanissues/desalination.html
•
•
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Method of obtaining fresh water from salt water
3 desal plants in Sanctuary
Several additional plants proposed
Impacts
– Brine waste effluent (2x salt of sea water), heavy and
sinks to bottom becoming concentrated
– Construction of offshore pipeline
– Thermal pollution
– Loss of marine species at intake
– Encourage more growth
Want to know more?
• Visit Monterey Bay Aquarium
• Visit tidepools in Pacific Grove