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Heal the Bay Blog

Author: Dana Murray

Help the Hundreds of Sick Sea Lions Along Our Shores

04.03.2013 |

More Ways to GiveNews

UPDATE APRIL 12, 2013: The California Wildlife Center has begun construction of an emergency seal rehabilitation facility in the Santa Monica Mountains. Read more.

For the last couple of weeks, Heal the Bay staff have fielded questions about the hundreds of sea lion pups washing up on our local beaches. We love these animals too, so we’re very concerned. We’ve contacted our partners and compiled the latest information to inform you of the current status of this crisis.

The local California Wildlife Center (CWC) and other rescue/rehab places are inundated, and CWC is trying to raise emergency funds via grants and donations to set up a temporary rescue and rehab center for the overflow of seals and sea lions in L.A. You can donate to their efforts.

In addition to the rescue and rehabilitation efforts, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is assembling an independent team of scientists to review data collected and to determine potential next steps. NOAA’s investigative team is in the process of developing a plan to test samples from both live and dead animals. Blood and tissue samples will be tested for bacterial, viral and other infectious agents. Samples will also be tested for radio-nucleotides. Results will be available in 1-3 months, and you can track the progress at California Sea Lion Unusual Mortality Event.

This is the sixth UME involving California sea lions that has occurred in California. Prior UMEs were declared in 1991, 1992, 1998, 2000 and 2002. Previous UMEs were caused by leptospirosis (1991), El Niño conditions (1992) and domoic acid toxicity (1998, 2000, 2002).

If you find a marine animal in distress:

  • Don’t touch! Do not pick up, pour water on or feed the animal. They are wild animals and can bite. They also are easily stressed by humans.
  • Do not return the animal to the water. Seals and sea lions temporarily “haul-out” on land to rest. Harbor seal mothers often leave their pups ashore while they’re feeding at sea. A beached whale, dolphin, or porpoise should be reported immediately.
  • Give the animal its space. Maintain a distance of at least 50 feet. Keep people and dogs away.
  • Call California Wildlife Center at 310-458-WILD if you find a distressed marine mammal in Malibu, or Marine Mammal Rescue at 1-800-39-WHALE for Santa Monica to Long Beach. For other areas, consult our list below of rescue and rehabilitation groups in Southern California. When calling, it’s important that you be able to identify your location and provide details of the animal and its condition.

Southern California Rescue and Rehab Groups:

Want to do more? Donate items from California Wildlife Center’s Amazon wishlist to help alleviate this crisis, or stay up-to-date via the California Wildlife Center’s Facebook page.

You can also donate to The Waitt Foundation challenge grant. Every dollar contributed by the public will be matched one-to-one by the Waitt Foundation and dedicated to the direct and urgent care of stranded sea lion pups.

 

— Dana Roeber Murray, Heal the Bay’s Marine and Coastal Scientist

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Big Win for Whales Off Our Coast

03.08.2013 |

Marine Protected AreasNews

Heal the Bay’s Marine & Coastal Scientist Dana Roeber Murray reports great news from the Coastal Commission meeting on Friday, March 8, 2013:

After hours of public comment and following decades of the U.S. Navy dismissing mitigation requirements for sonar and explosion practices, the Coastal Commission unanimously voted to reject the Navy’s consistency permit!

Heal the Bay board member Dayna Bochco led the charge today by making the initial motion. The Commission sent a strong message that the Navy needs to come back with a robust plan to protect marine animals. Avoiding Marine Protected Areas was also a key message echoed by the commissioners.

“This is a good day for the oceans,” said Dana. “I am proud of our Coastal Commission for standing up to the Navy and using their position to protect our coast.”

Learn more ways you can Take Action.

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Climate Changing: Time to Adapt to the New Abnormal

01.30.2013 |

About UsClimate ChangeMalibu / Pacific PalisadesMarine Protected AreasMore Ways to GiveSouth BayVenice Beach

Climate change is happening now. Here in Los Angeles- not just in the Arctic. In our backyards, our ocean, our mountains, our beaches. Of course it’s important to keep reducing carbon emissions, but at this point climate change is occurring – we don’t have a choice, we need adapt to the change. Investing time and resources into identifying and advocating for environmentally-sound adaptation solutions is imperative- climate change could be one of the biggest challenges we face.

Some of the ongoing and expected climate change impacts here in coastal Los Angeles include increased storm intensity, ocean temperature increases, changing currents, sea level rise, species range shifts, coastal erosion, and ocean acidification. To make matters worse, when a combination of impacts collide—such as high tides, sea level rise, storm surges, and inland flooding—projected inundation could severely impact our freshwater supplies, wastewater treatment plants, power plants, and other infrastructure… not to mention public health and the environment.

According to NOAA, in 2012 the U.S. experienced our warmest year on record, which might sound nice and toasty at first, but really means that we had more extremely hot days and heat waves than in years past. This type of climate change not only has immediate impacts to public health, but can also affect nature’s timing—prey, predators, and pollination may not match up as they have in past years—which can have profound effects on our local and migrating species, upsetting the natural balance native species have established for centuries.

At Heal the Bay, we’re committed to advocating for environmentally sound climate change adaptation methods through participating in local stakeholder groups such as Adapt-LA, analyzing and commenting on proposed plans and policies, and educating the public about the coastal threats associated with climate change and how everyday people can be involved in sound solutions that protect our critical natural resources.

Some areas we’ve been involved with for a while will help with climate change adaptation – like encouraging water reuse and conservation, or supporting and advocating for low-impact development. Also, by supporting the restoration and protection of specific ecosystems- such as wetlands and eelgrass beds- we are also not just adapting to climate change, but trying to offset it. Wetlands and eelgrass beds can act as a carbon sink, natural places that absorb more carbon from the atmosphere than they release.

One of Heal the Bay’s larger efforts over the past five years, and one of the key slices of my personal work at Heal the Bay is the establishment and implementation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), which help to maintain and create healthy ecosystems. How are MPAs and climate change related? Healthy ecosystems can better withstand the pressures of climate change much more effectively than a stressed ecosystem, and MPAs house more resilient habitats and species. By focusing on reducing overall stressors to the environment, such as pollution and overfishing, we can buy time for species to adapt to stressors that we cannot control- namely, climate change. A more resilient ecosystem can rebound and adapt after an extreme event. Also, by supporting a network of MPAs, rather than just single areas, we are planning ahead for species shifts to northern waters as ocean temperatures rise- our California MPA network provides a continuity of protected habitats.

I was encouraged to hear our President bring up climate change in his inauguration speech this month, and am ready to face the challenge and help implement solutions for our community, our environment, and for future generations- I hope you are on board too!

–Dana Roeber Murray, Marine & Coastal Scientist

 

You can get on board by joining the Forward on Climate rally in L.A. on February 17.

Or consider supporting Heal the Bay’s coastal resiliency efforts.

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Signs of Progress Along Our Coast

01.17.2013 |

About UsCalifornia GrunionMalibu / Pacific PalisadesMarine Protected AreasNewsPalos Verdes Peninsula

Planting one of the first MPA signs along Los Angeles’ coast felt like it’d been a long time coming.

California lays claim to the only statewide network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), or underwater parks, where ocean wildlife can thrive with less disturbance from humans. Yesterday our Coastal Resources Director Sarah Sikich and I, along with our colleagues at L.A. Waterkeeper, installed the first MPA signs in Los Angeles County along access points in Malibu’s marine reserve. 

Southern California’s marine protected areas have been in effect for a year — after years of hard work to implement them– and now they’ll finally be marked.

Point Dume State Marine Reserve is located on the Malibu Coast, and includes a rocky headland peninsula, one of the world’s most popular coastal destinations. Migrating gray whales often stop off and feed along Point Dume, and the reserve’s kelp forests, canyon, and tide pools teem with octopus, anemones, and sea stars. Historically, Point Dume’s kelp forest has been the largest in southern California, providing food and shelter for a variety of sea life, including sea lions, grunion, and spawning squid.

It took over a year to get these initial simple signs designed, approved, funded, and installed- but an even longer public process to identify, negotiate, and designate MPAs along the Southern California Coast. Big thanks to the collaborative efforts of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Los Angeles Waterkeeper for helping to make these signs become a reality!

Next up are installing MPA signs along the Palos Verdes coast and Catalina Island … and later on this year, beautiful and informative MPA interpretive signage which will include images, maps, and multi-lingual descriptions of our local MPAs. For Heal the Bay, this is just the first step in education signage, but an exciting one to help with marine protected area education.

 

–Dana Roeber Murray, Heal the Bay’s Marine & Coastal Scientist

For ocean lovers who want to get more involved with underwater parks, join our MPA Watch training program on January 30 and February 2 to help monitor these vital environmental resources. 

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MPAs: An Ocean Legacy Like a String of Pearls

12.18.2012 |

About UsLong Beach / AvalonMalibu / Pacific PalisadesMarina del Rey / Playa del ReyMarine Protected AreasNewsPalos Verdes PeninsulaSanta MonicaSouth BayVenice Beach

It’s been a long road – more than 12 years – but, California’s statewide network of coastal marine protected areas (MPAs) is now complete. As of Dec. 19, 2012, the final piece of the coastal MPA network (along the North Coast) is effective.

Our state’s marine life will now have safe haven along about 16% of our entire California coastline, lining our 1,100 miles of coast like a string of pearls, protecting habitats, ocean ecosystems, and marine natural heritage.

California’s state legislature enacted the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) in 1999, directing the Department of Fish and Game to design and manage a statewide network of MPAs to protect marine life and habitats, marine ecosystems, and marine natural heritage. Heal the Bay was most actively involved in the effort to designate MPAs in southern California under the MLPA, and is now working with partner groups throughout the state to monitor and conduct outreach about these new underwater parks.

Through the phased “MLPA Initiative” process various interests ranging from fishing groups to conservationists designed 119 MPAs, which have been adopted off the CA coast- first in the Central Coast in 2007 and 2010, then along the Southern California coast, which entered into regulatory effect on Jan. 1, 2012.

This network of MPAs is designed to function together as an interconnected system.  California’s MPAs are being monitored by state and federal agencies, researchers, citizen science groups, and others.

The North Coast MPAs going into effect marks a historic moment to be celebrated – this is the first statewide network of underwater parks in the U.S. As an investment for future generations, this system of MPAs will lead to a stronger and more resilient marine ecosystem in California.

— Dana Roeber Murray

Heal the Bay’s Marine & Coastal Scientist 

Want to do more to steward our ocean environment? Join Heal the Bay’s citizen science program, MPA Watch. Training begins January 30.

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A Dive Like No Other, Thanks to New MPAs

09.06.2012 |

About UsLong Beach / AvalonMalibu / Pacific PalisadesMarina del Rey / Playa del ReyMarine Protected AreasPalos Verdes PeninsulaSanta MonicaSouth Bay

Thousands of tiny golden fish dart out of the way as I kick through the kelp forest — it’s amazing that they’re already learning to swim from predators at an early age. As I round the edge of a large rocky reef fringing Santa Cruz Island, I am enveloped yet again in a cloud of tiny marine animals and larvae — these ones looking more like itsy-bitsy lobster babies. Up above me, I see dozens of juvenile blue rockfish, only a few inches in length, floating amidst the strands of giant kelp. I’ve never experienced a dive like this before. It must be baby season in the kelp forest, and I’ve dove into their nursery.

Although the sheer amount of baby fish and crustaceans is impressive enough, one of my favorite animals zooms into view. With long whiskers, big black eyes, and a spotted coat, a curious harbor seal begins to play a little peek-a-boo with me in the kelp. Seeing large predators, like harbor seals, is a good indicator of a healthy ecosystem. A large school of mackerel divides and darts away from the deft predator. I’m always excited (and a bit nervous) when I see large schools of fish suddenly change direction, and a dark shadow passes over me. It usually means a predator such as a shark or marine mammal is in pursuit of its prey. I float coolly in the giant kelp forest, watching the harbor seal hunt, weaving its way around and through the school of fish.

What I experienced underwater is in a marine reserve at our local Channel Islands — a marine protected area (MPA) where all marine life can thrive, free from fishing or harvest. The marine reserves at the Channel Islands have been in place for fewer than 10 years, but the ecosystems are already so much healthier! Along the Los Angeles shoreline, we also have brand-new MPAs in Malibu and Palos Verdes, which were established on Jan. 1, 2012. Given a little time, perhaps our local MPAs could flourish like those at the nearby Channel Islands. These areas have been designated along key stretches of coast to help marine life recover and restore our fisheries. Yet, the majority of the Southern California coast is still open to fishing.

To support our local MPAs, USC Sea Grant and Resources Legacy Fund Foundation have generously funded Heal the Bay’s MPA Watch citizen science monitoring program, which allows volunteers to survey human uses within and outside of MPAs in Los Angeles. This summer, Heal the Bay’s interns, volunteers, and staff worked together to analyze and write our first MPA Watch Data Analysis & Results Report. Our 27-page report includes data from 554 surveys in Malibu and Palos Verdes spanning 17 months in 2011 and 2012. We found that the most common coastal uses in the study areas are non-consumptive activities — 99% of the coastal uses surveyed to date are non-consumptive recreational activities. Unfortunately, in both Malibu’s and Palos Verdes’ MPAs, some active consumptive activities are present in 2012, the majority of which is shore-based rod/reel fishing (80+ individuals). Although this is a small percentage of the overall ocean uses in these areas, these findings highlight the importance of education and outreach about the new MPAs to the shore-angling community.

Tracking human uses in these new MPAs is important as the data can be used with ecological surveys to help give a more complete picture of ecosystem health, as well as inform education and enforcement actions. Like the Channel Islands MPAs, I look forward to the marine life and ecosystems in our local coastal MPAs in Malibu and in Palos Verdes will also begin to thrive and to seed areas outside of the MPAs.

–Dana Roeber Murray

Heal the Bay Marine & Coastal Scientist

Want to help survey new Marine Protected Areas? Join MPA Watch.

Contact Dana Murray for more information.


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Citizen Beachwalkers Unite!

07.16.2012 |

Malibu / Pacific PalisadesMarine Protected AreasSanta Monica

It’s a tough job to stroll along two of the most remarkable beach areas in California, but someone’s got to do it. Why not you?

On July 24 and 28, Heal the Bay is training volunteers to help monitor marine protected areas (MPAs) in Malibu and Palos Verdes. Volunteers collect observational data on coastal uses in MPAs; data which is then used by the California Department of Fish & Game to help with management and compliance. Essentially we want to find out how people are using this newly-established statewide network of MPAs.

“Our volunteer citizen scientists come from varied backgrounds – from social workers to students – but all our volunteers have one thing in common: a passion for the sea,” says Dana Roeber Murray, Heal the Bay’s coastal scientist. Dana started the MPA Watch program in early 2011 to train local citizens on MPA monitoring and has trained over 70 volunteers to date.

“It took years of collaboration with scientists, fishermen, government, and other non-profits to see these protected areas enacted,” Dana says. “We worked hard up and down the state to make it happen. So it’s been very gratifying to see the public embracing MPAs and volunteering their time to help monitor their effectiveness.”

MPA Watch volunteers commit to attending one classroom and one field training to become citizen scientists, then go on to survey the coast at least four times a month. For more information, check out our MPA Watch FAQs or contact contact Dana.

Trainings are only offered a few times a year, so reserve your spot and sign up now.

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Debris Check: What’s in the Waves?

06.06.2012 |

About UsLong Beach / AvalonMalibu / Pacific PalisadesMarina del Rey / Playa del ReyPalos Verdes PeninsulaSanta MonicaSouth BayVenice Beach

Today’s guest blogger is Dana Roeber Murray, a marine and coastal scientist with Heal the Bay.

A little more than a year after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Heal the Bay is conducting our first tsunami debris monitoring of Los Angeles area beaches in partnership with the NOAA Marine Debris Program.

Beginning June 8, we will launch monthly monitoring efforts that will also help gather information about how trash and debris unrelated to the tsunami accumulates on our local beaches over time. Our first survey will be in Palos Verdes, and we will also survey in Malibu.

This monitoring occurs not a moment too soon, as I discovered on a recent family trip to Hawaii when I brought my daughter to one of my favorite beaches – Honokalani Black Sand Beach in Wainapanapa State Park in Maui.

I had camped at this state park a couple years ago and had remembered it being one of the most scenic and unique beaches I’d ever been to, complete with sea turtles riding in the waves. However, during this visit, I was surprised to see quite a lot of plastic debris fringing the tide line on this black sand beach. Other visitors thought they were little shells and would stoop down for a closer look, only to find bits of white and multicolored plastic lining the beach.

When I took a closer look at the plastic debris, I found Japanese writing and odd shaped plastic pieces, and determined that I was likely looking at plastic marine debris that had washed ashore all the way from Japan after the tsunami last year. In March 2011, the tsunami washed boats, buildings, appliances, plastic objects, and other items into the sea, which initially were visible by satellite as a debris field off the coast of Japan, but have since dispersed. Wind and ocean currents have scattered the items throughout the North Pacific Ocean, and some items likely sank to the seafloor.

In addition to what I witnessed first-hand on the beach in Maui, on mainland U.S. shores, there have been a few confirmed reports of tsunami related debris washing ashore in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, including a soccer ball, motorcycle, and fishing vessel. However, we have yet to see evidence of any tsunami related debris washing ashore in Southern California. NOAA and oceanographic experts believe the debris will continue to disperse by wind and ocean currents, and they are uncertain as to if or when we will see effects in Southern California, which is part of the importance of regular monitoring.

If you find anything on the beach that you think might be related to the tsunami, please contact Heal the Bay’s Policy Analyst Kathryn Benz. In addition, you can report it to report it to NOAA.

Want to know more? Read our Tsunami Debris FAQ and NOAA’s Factsheet.

Marine debris persists as a problem here in Southern California, whether it comes from overseas or from inland sources. Heal the Bay conducts regular beach cleanups throughout Los Angeles County. Please join us for a cleanup.

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Spiny Lobsters: Key to the Kelp

04.24.2012 |

Malibu / Pacific PalisadesPalos Verdes PeninsulaSouth Bay

Today’s blogger is Dana Roeber Murray, a marine and coastal scientist at Heal the Bay

As a recreational and scientific diver, I’ve seen the California spiny lobster ‑ an ecologically important species in our local kelp forests, as well as an important commercial and recreational fishery – in varying population densities along our coastline and out at the Channel Islands.

A predatory species that can be found hiding in dens under rock ledges, lobsters are an important key to maintaining marine biodiversity in our local waters because they prey upon kelp-consuming species such as sea urchins. This in turn helps to balance species abundance in kelp forest ecosystems. In essence, spiny lobster help to provide a stable ecosystem for other species that live in and rely on kelp for food and habitat.

I’ve been diving in “urchin barrens” along our coast and on the backside on Anacapa Island where spiny lobster are hard to come by – places where kelp forests have been completely consumed by urchins, leading to ecosystems that are dominated by just a few species like purple urchins and brittle stars.

To find out more about the future sustainability of our local lobsters, I attended a recent public meeting focused on managing California’s spiny lobster fishery. The California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) is developing a Fishery Management Plan that aims to sustain their populations for years to come.

The planning process has already begun via series of public meetings, the first of which I attended as Heal the Bay’s marine and coastal scientist, along with two Science & Policy interns. Katja Borowski, Heal the Bay intern and Santa Monica College student, observed that “it was a very civilized exchange of thoughts and ideas between groups with different interests and needs, and it seemed that while everyone clearly tried to pursue their ideas, the welfare of the spiny lobster was high on everybody’s agenda.”

This plan is required under the Marine Life Management Act, and will be developed using the best scientific data available on spiny lobster natural history, recreational and commercial fishery data, and the effects lobster fisheries have on marine ecosystems. In addition to a series of public meetings and public reviews of the planning process, the DFG will be putting together a Lobster Advisory Committee made up of volunteers including recreational fishermen, marine scientists, government, commercial fishermen, NGOs and non-consumptive, recreational users.

This committee will meet regularly and have a major role in the planning process. California’s Ocean Protection Council has provided a grant to support the lobster fishery management planning process and the DFG should have a fishery management plan for California spiny lobster finished by 2015.

Find out more about how you can help improve our marine ecosystems, join Heal the Bay’s MPA Watch program.

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MPA Enforcement Is Live in California

01.17.2012 |

Marine Protected Areas

The California Department of Fish and Game is actively enforcing the new Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), citing a Southern California person early Jan. 15 for poaching dozens of lobsters inside an MPA.

According to a media release from the Department of Fish and Game (DFG), this is the first major violation that DFG wardens have cited in any of the Southern California MPAs since they went into effect in Southern California on Jan. 1, 2012.

The MPAs were created through the Marine Life Protection Act in order to simplify and strengthen existing marine reserves and fishing regulations to allow recovery of fish populations that have been in severe decline.

“The vast majority of our fishing and diving constituents are responsible and law-abiding,” said DFG Assistant Chief Paul Hamdorff. “It is always our goal to catch those who choose to intentionally abuse the resources of this state for their own benefit.”

Read the Los Angeles Times article.

Learn about how you can help protect our underwater parks, by joining Heal the Bay’s citizen scientist program, MPA Watch.

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