School Team Stewardship

Our school team has been studying levels of urban run-off pollution in a marine environment, the toxicity, human impact on a watershed, wetland ecology, and the factors which impact the local watersheds. The students understand the geography of watersheds and are able to describe different ecosystems and how to be more pro-active in preventing stormwater pollution. Poor water quality is a health concern for humans and wildlife, including birds and aquatic life. Urban run-off carries pollutants into storm-drains that flow into the ocean; urbanization of watershed areas has altered the natural hydrology of southern California.

The team has studied their own school and home communities to better understand the local watershed; locating storm drains, flood channels, effects of runoff, and the pollutants that come in contact with the watershed. The team has completed a water audit at school and at their homes; in order to gather data about what happens to the water. The audit has linked their data to the local issue of stormwater runoff. The lessons continued to build on the effect of water pollution on our watershed, and biotic and abiotic factors in freshwater biomes.

The team and the school took local waterway field trips to the Ballona Wetlands, Venice, and Cabrillo Beach. They have viewed the contents of our local storm drains; observing just how much trash and pollutants from urban run-off threaten our oceans. The team has facilitated an assembly and guest speakers for the school and the Boy’s and Girl’s Club to teach the R’s – reduce, reuse, and recycle. The team is participating with the Key to Sea, Heal the Bay, World Water Monitoring Day, Generation Earth, and with the Environmental Defenders.

Day 10 - The Departure

Peter Nilsson, scientist/ marine biologist team leader



Our morning was filled with team good-byes and the realization that we are all returning to different corners of our planet and most likely our physical paths would not cross again. Our team consisted of folks from Brazil, the Philippines, Japan, Mexico, and the UK. We were harmonious, tight-knit, and shared a great passion for the Monterey marine mammal study. We shared our many digital photographs in our last moments together on a CD that Anna burned for each of us. Anna also prepared delectable cinnamon apple pancakes along with our bacon specialist, Peter. One by one we each began our departure.
I had rented a vehicle coming north to Monterey and now going; returning south on highway 1, California’s coastal route of immeasurable beauty. One gem after another, Carmel, Big Sur, Cambria, San Luis Obispo, Morro Bay, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Malibu, Santa Monica, and lastly Venice. Our coastline is like a string of pearls. Special vistas include seeing the elephant seals on Cambria’s coastline, Montana de Oro in Morro Bay area, the marine protected sanctuary area of the Channel Islands off Santa Barbara and Ventura, and the surfers of Malibu. La Jolla, Sycamore, and Leo Carrillo are great campgrounds/ recreational areas in south Ventura that my Dorsey High students and I frequented often and are most accessible to LA folks. For my students, it was a first to camp outdoors, to be in a tent, and an intro to wilderness 101; which turned into a most anticipated annual event for over 10 years.
Driving home gave me time to contemplate this year’s curriculum and lessons in marine sciences, our conservation projects, and outreach stewardship activities.
Elephant Seals in Cambria

Day 9 - "Live from the Field"

It is the intention of my involvement in the Earthwatch Expedition to be able to provide my students the opportunity to learn first hand with me as I experience the field study project with Monterey Marine mammals. The daily blog is a concise narration for them to follow me in the field. We have arranged conferences using our computer eye cams, mic, and audio. When the technology and internet is cooperative, it has been an exciting and engaging interaction.
Upon my return to school next week, I hope to be able to further our project with conservation projects and stewardship in our community. I will create new lesson plans and curriculum for further study with marine mammals.
Sadly, today was our last field study with the sea otters. We observed their raft behaviors when they are together; for example, their social interaction, play, rest, grooming, travel, and foraging (eating). We updated our observations every five minutes with these behavioral changes. We also noted their movements of exiting and entering the channel. In order to cover all times of day with our observations, we arrived at sunrise – despite today being daylight savings time! Two days ago, we observed through sunset, when we could no longer see them.
Following our observations, we did a beach clean-up and I stumbled upon a common murre; a sea bird that often spends most of its time at sea. The murre is a northern counterpart of the penguin, in the auks family. He was unable to fly or move, but quite alive and breathing. I recognized his condition similar to what I saw in brown pelicans with demoic acid poisoning which temporaily paralyzes their movement and ability to fly; they can literally drop from the sky. We called the Department of Fish and Game dispatch which is open 24 hours a day; and the SPCA came two hours later to pick him up from us. Hopefully, he can be treated in time if his condition is a result of demoic acid.


Anna Janovicz, our fearless Earthwatch team leader

Pelagic Shark Research Foundation

We were treated this evening to Sean Van Sommeran’s special presentation and research on sharks in Elkhorn Slough, Monterey Bay, Ano Nuevo, and in Guadalupe Island, Mexico. Sean is the founder of the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation and will be the PI, primary investigator, of the Monterey marine mammal expedition next year with Earthwatch.
I could not believe that there are over 400 species of sharks and only a few are really a potential threat to people and would need to be provoked to be harmful. Most sharks are harmless to people and we are really the greatest threat to sharks. For example, the basking shark is threatened with extinction due to man’s brutal killing/ mutilation, just to obtain their fins, for a soup delicacy and tossed alive back into the sea without their fin – they will simply drown and brutally die. Shark liver is also taken to produce commercial oil products and a catch to hang the jaws/teeth as trophies.
www.pelagic.org
To see more photos of sharks and Sean Van Sommeran’s research visit:
http://www.pelagic.org/archive
Astrix and Spy Hop boats are the ones that we have used for our field work.

Day 8 - Bottlenose Dolphin Sightings

If possible, it was more than a perfect day, not a cloud in the sky, warm and sunny, and no swells. It was as though the dolphins were waiting for us, because our sightings began within minutes of leaving the harbor. Sean, our fearless captain and founder of the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation, gave his little superstitious tap on the boat’s out drive, which can be detected by the dolphins through the reverberation in water. We spent the remainder of our day surrounded by the pod of bottlenose dolphins. We had over 40 dolphin sightings today, including several mothers and their calves. I had never seen dolphins breach so high, wave after wave, nor ride alongside of boat as well as bow riding. Sean said they were actually watching us and that there hearing is so acute that most likely they recognize the familiar sound of our motor. Breaching occurs when dolphins jump high out of the water and appears to fly up through the surf. Bow riding is when the dolphin leads at the front of the boat and stays ahead within its wake.

We just kept heading south; I could no longer tell whether they were keeping up with us or we were keeping up with them. Anna, was taking a photo ID of as many dorsal fins as possible and broke her record this year with 483 pictures! Sean and Anna were so familiar with this pod that they had given them names from previous encounters and recognizing their dorsal fins. This was definitely part of the Monterey Bay bottlenose resident population as opposed to a transient unit of dolphins that are only present temporarily. Our PI (principal investigator) is exploring the long-term fidelity to a particular area for long periods and maintaining their school structure through time. She is aware of particular “social units” that move back and forth along the coast.
Today, we observed the high cohesion amongst the females, “mothers” with their calves, which was most exciting.
A question for my students to consider now; what is the difference between a resident population as opposed to a transient one?


I would like to credit Peter Nilsson and Anna Janovicz for generously providing many of the awesome dolphin, otter, and whale photographs. Peter and Anna are the team leaders on our Earthwatch expedition.

Day 7 - Recording and Transcribing Observation Data

We record data each day throughout our observation of the Monterey marine mammals. At the end of the day, we transcribe the recorded data and photo ID into the computer log to save and create an excel spreadsheet with GIS (geographic information system). This data is extremely important to our PI, the principal investigator, Dr. Daniela Maldini. It is through the data that she can see consistant patterns in behavior, habitat, feeding, social patterns of interaction, and their daily movements. The data gives necessary information to better understand these animals.
A little trivia about sea otters is that they eat 15 pounds of food daily, which is 25% of their body weight.
Today, I selected a specific sea otter for the focal study, to observe for several hours around sunset; we will call her Ophelia. I observed her interaction/ socialization with other sea otters, times of travel, her grooming, foraging/ feeding, and resting. She played with other otters for nearly one hour, groomed her grizzled fur off and on throughout the observation. At one point, I could see that Ophelia became very tired and began to drift away from the otter raft (composed of a close-knit group of otters). She went into a rest position, floating over to a small shore, close to the mouth of Elkhorn Slough. She beached herself and wiggled onto shore; resting for over a half hour before returning to the otter raft in the early evening. At this point, I had to end the data collection for another day; returning to our computer to enter the information into an excel program. This is a long term study and will take several years to better understand the sea otter dynamics at Elkhorn Slough and the Monterey Bay.

Day 6 - Monterey Bay Aquarium

I had greatly anticipated this day to visit the aquarium, which surpassed all my expectations. The aquarium is situated in Monterey Bay on Cannery Row and was one of the old canneries. Every window in the aquarium has a spectacular view of the bay and is surrounded by water. I passed through a group of over 60 harbor seals resting on the beach when I was walking to the aquarium.

Everyone had told me about the tremendous kelp forest tank which occupies 3 floors of the aquarium. It is magnificent to view and to experience the diversity and web of life in the kelp forest. The sea otters depend on a healthy kelp forest and help to maintain it as well, so it is not consumed by sea urchins, which has threatened kelp forests in southern California regions. The otters place their young in the kelp, while they forage for food.

The film program at the aquarium was most informative with important relevant issues regarding conservation of our oceans that we must deal with as a global community. The programs were interactive with knowledgeable marine biologists from MBARI(Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute) and were responsive to our questions.
I was able to see the following films:
EXPLORING MONTEREY CANYON
In this program, there is a link to scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute who are exploring the deep sea with robot submersibles. It was interactive and I was able to ask questions about the canyon and exciting discoveries and encounter fascinating animals in the cold, dark waters of Monterey Canyon. The marine biologists who presented the film were knowledgeable and responsive to questions.
SURVIVING SHARKS
Sharks are some of the most amazing—and misunderstood—animals in the sea. Peter Benchley, author of Jaws, explores the truth about sharks and the growing threats to their survival in this 20-minute film.
EMPTY OCEANS, EMPTY NETS
Overfishing is one of the biggest threats facing our oceans today. The film gave suggestions and actions to help solve this problem. In this 15-minute film, I was able to learn about some of the steps that can be taken to help keep our oceans healthy. Information about making sustainable seafood choices, is available through interactive Seafood Watch guide that can help to choose seafood that's good for one’s health and for the oceans was given out to everyone at the aquarium.
It is important to ask questions when shopping and eating out for fish. For example:
Where is the seafood from?
Is it farmed or wild-caught?
How is it caught?
There are concerns with how fish are caught or farmed or with the health of their habitat due to other human impacts. We need to avoid fish from sources that harm other marine life or the environment.
The aquarium provides hands-on/ stewardship programs for children of all ages, schools, educators, and is pro-active on many conservation issues to protect our oceans and wildlife. It was a transformational and educational experience. The galleries and exhibits are stunning; especially the coral, jellies, and ocean's edge. I enjoyed seeing the penguins, wetland and aquatic bird exhibit, sea otters,and outer bay areas.


Aquarium website: www.montereybayaquarium.org

Day 5 - Dolphin Observation Survey

Our sea conditions today were less than ideal with large swells that made it difficult to go close to the surf and to observe dolphins. The bottlenose dolphin stay in the surf area within the inshore waters no further than two kilometers off shore and can easily be seen from the beach. The near shore waters are a highly productive spawning ground for coastal fish which attracts dolphins to this area of the surf. We were not able to get any photo-identification from the boat today due to the swells.
We were able to encounter a number of sea otters in the swells milling around or resting around the kelp and we counted over 100 sea lions just congregating on the rocks near one of the Monterey harbors. We saw a sea lion that had fresh shark wounds which will make it difficult for him to forage and survive.
We observed many brown pelicans in the sea that have also been endangered due to human impact of contaminates in the ocean.
Please consider what we can do to improve environmental conditions that impact our oceans and wildlife; especially toxic chemicals that pollute our watershed and runoff into the ocean.

Day 4 - Monterey Bay

I would like to introduce the Monterey Bay area to you.
Click here for a map of the Monterey Penninsula You can use the sliding scale on the left side of the map to adjust the geographic locations larger or smaller.
The City of Monterey is located on Monterey Bay along the Pacific coast in central California. As of 2005, the city population was 30,641. The city is noted for its rich history of resident artists beginning in the late 1800s and its historically famed fishery. Monterey is home to the Naval Postgraduate School the Defense Language Institute, former Fort Ord; Fleet Numerical Oceanography Center, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Monterey American Viticultural Area; Cannery Row, Fisherman's Wharf and a Marine Mammal Center field station located in the area.
It is from Monterey that the semi-hard cheese known as Monterey Jack originated!

Nickname: "The Cradle of History,
California's "First" City"
Website: http://www.monterey.org
I have several questions for you,now that you have a little background on Monterey Bay.
-What are the special environmental features and geography of this area?
-What famous vegetable in this area makes it the ________ capital of the US? You can see Marilyn Monroe posing on billboards with this vegetable?
-Why do think they call an area of Monterey "Cannery Row" and why is that area of historical significance?
-What makes Elkhorn Slough a special place and how is it being protected?
Please post your answers in the comment area of the blog!