The State Coastal Conservancy will be conducting exams for Public Land Managers II, Project Development Managers, and Project Development Specialists. There is currently one job opening, Program Manager for the Ocean Program. However, future job openings may be filled from these exam lists as well, for at least the next 12 months. See attached Exams. Final Filing date January 21, 2010.
The California Ocean Protection Council (OPC) is currently hiring a senior level policy analyst to assume the duties of program manager. Depending on the applicant pool and level of experience the position may be filled at the Conservancy Project Development Specialist, Conservancy Program Manager, or Public Land Manager II, level. The OPC is requesting applications from qualified individuals to take part in examinations for placement on civil service lists for these classifications.
Draft Lessons Learned from California’s Marine Life Management Act is now available for public review and input. Please send all comments to MLMALL@scc.ca.gov by January 31, 2010.
Climate change is the defining issue of our generation. Science shows that even if emissions are severely curtailed, we will still experience future climate impacts due to existing greenhouse gasses. California’s coastline is particularly susceptible to projected climate change impacts, such as sea level rise, changes in water temperature and chemistry, changes in biodiversity and habitat location. Along with other state entities, the OPC is taking a leadership role in examining these impacts and setting the stage for comprehensive adaptation planning.
Approximately 85 percent of California’s residents live and work in coastal counties and the state’s coastal areas are home to unique and threatened ecosystems that offer unmatched recreational and tourism opportunities and provide invaluable habitat for rare species. But, according to recent estimates, a 100-year flood event after a 1.4 meter rise in sea level (the projected rise for 2100) will put approximately 500 million people and nearly $100 billion in property at risk. In addition, California residents and out-of-state visitors make well over 500 million visits to the state’s coastal beaches every year. All of these visits contribute greatly to California’s ocean-dependent economy, estimated to be $46 billion per year, which will also be susceptible to climate-induced changes along our coastline.
In November 2008, the Governor released Executive Order 08-13 that set the stage for state action on climate change adaptation planning as a companion to the state’s groundbreaking approach to climate change mitigation through AB32: Global Warming Solutions Act. In response to the Executive Order, the OPC convened numerous state agencies with jurisdictions in the coastal zone to draft the Ocean and Coastal sector of the State Climate Change Adaptation Strategy. In 2010 and beyond, the OPC will work with the Coastal Conservancy, the Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), and Coastal Commission to promote coastal adaptation planning and science. This will include the development of a framework that can be used by local and state agencies as guidance for preparation of adaptation plans. In addition, the OPC will continue to engage in interagency coordination on mitigation and adaptation actions through the Climate Action Team, which recently added Oceans and Coastal Resources as a new working group.
The OPC is also engaged with Oregon, Washington, and federal agencies through the Climate Change Action Coordination Team of the West Coast Governors’ Agreement on Ocean Health. All of these entities have come together to fund a National Academies study on Sea Level Rise and the West Coast that is scheduled for completion in December 2010. In particular, this study will examine both global and regional sea level rise estimates for 2030, 2050, and 2100 and will provide ranges of expected rise that should be used for planning.
The OPC has also funded foundational research on climate change issues such as regionally down-scaled sea level rise estimates by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, coastal inundation and erosion mapping by the Pacific Institute and Philip Williams and Associates, and a multidisciplinary research project examining the potential impacts of ocean acidification. Most of this work has been conducting in coordination with the California Energy Commission-funded Climate Change Impacts Assessment Project. The OPC is currently working with the Ocean Science Trust, the Energy Commission and other state agencies to develop a statewide climate change research plan.
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Robust annual salmon migrations have long been a sign of a healthy Pacific ecosystem. Today, sadly, wild salmon and steelhead populations in California are threatened with extinction. The OPC is currently exploring how to fill critical policy and funding gaps to help protect this iconic species for centuries to come.
During the mid 19th century, the large numbers of salmon returning to their spawning grounds was so legendary that gold miners wrote letters home about ‘walking across the backs of salmon’ to traverse rivers. But this is no longer the case. The West Coast commercial salmon fishery was closed in 2008 and again in 2009 due to record low returns of the fall run Chinook salmon to the Sacramento River. Scientists have stated that approximately 60,000 Chinook salmon reached the Sacramento area to spawn this year compared with 800,000 in 2002.
The reasons for the collapse of the salmon stocks are varied and not without a high level of controversy. The main factors for the rapid decline in salmon populations include: barriers to fish passage (e.g., dams, roads and water diversions), water pollution, historic over fishing, varied ocean conditions, invasive species, climate change, and habitat destruction (e.g., logging and development). These cumulative impacts have led to a substantial loss of salmon stocks throughout the West Coast over the past 150 years.
The OPC supports a variety of projects and studies to elucidate what actions it and other state agencies should take to develop more robust policies that protect and safeguard the last remaining wild stocks of salmonids in California. In particular, the OPC is currently funding three instream flow studies in coordination with the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) to develop minimum flow requirements needed to maintain critical habitat for salmonids living in the Shasta, Big Sur, and Santa Maria rivers. This information will be provided to the State Water Resource Control Board, along with necessary background information, to develop flow recommendations for each of these rivers.
The OPC is also working with Center for Ecosystem Management and Restoration (CEMAR) on the Southern Steelhead Resources Project to prioritize watersheds for restoration projects south of the Golden Gate Bridge that have the greatest potential to restore native populations of steelhead. The results are intended to guide decision making by agencies, local jurisdictions, watershed groups, funders, and others by establishing a set of short-term restoration activities intended to conserve the greatest amount of existing steelhead habitat in the most efficient manner. In a related effort, Ecotrust has developed a report, that synthesizes current and historic salmon population statistics, discusses causes of decline in salmon abundance, and identifies key watersheds that are home to the last remaining wild salmon stocks in California. The report collects recommendations from numerous other reports and prioritizes them according to the top three contemporary factors of decline: land use, dams, and water diversion.
Salmon issues were also included as an OPC research priority for 2009, which led to the council’s decision to fund the research project “The Future of the California Salmon Fishery: Roles of Climate Variation, Habitat Restoration, Hatchery Practices, and Biocomplexity” as part of the Focused Research and Outreach Initiative. This study focuses on the impacts of climate variation, habitat restoration, and hatchery practices on the Klamath River and Central Valley salmon runs and will examine the oceanic component of the salmon life cycle. This research will result in a better understanding about which mitigation actions (such as hatchery practices, habitat restoration, control of freshwater flow rates) will have the greatest impact for stock recovery. The 14-person interdisciplinary team includes oceanographers, fishery stock assessment scientists, ecologists, geneticists, and economists and is lead by NOAA Fisheries.
Broadly, the OPC is working to promote increased coordination and data sharing among existing state and federal agencies working on salmonid issues. The OPC is interested in supporting key projects that help restore native populations of salmon across California and ensure that our restoration dollars are directed towards activities that will provide the greatest outcome in terms of protecting this valuable species.
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The waters off California’s coastline boast some of the most productive fisheries in the world, and as a result, the state is defined by its rich fishing heritage. The OPC is committed to preserving and restoring California’s valuable fisheries and the communities and people that depend on them.
California’s fisheries are faced with many threats including pollution, habitat destruction, overfishing, and climate change. Each of these challenges can contribute to declines in fish numbers and changes in distribution that in turn threaten fisheries and associated businesses. Pursing innovative policies and projects to help restore and promote our fisheries is a top priority for the OPC. The OPC views its mandate as an opportunity to address the underlying problems facing California’s fisheries, not just the symptoms.
The OPC is working to improve fisheries management throughout California by pursuing innovative community-based or cooperative management and supporting further implementation of the Marine Life Management Act (MLMA). The Marine Life Management Act Lessons Learned Study is an ongoing study being led by a six-member team to evaluate the successes and challenges of the implementation of the MLMA. The evaluation will provide recommendations to assist future MLMA efforts by the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) and California Fish and Game Commission (Commission). The Collaborative Fisheries Research (CFR) Organization will be a venue for commercial and recreational fishermen, academic scientists, coastal managers, tribes, non-governmental organizations, and funders to discuss and prioritize existing and emerging fisheries management data needs. Once established, the CFR Organization will also provide grant funding to support collaborative research projects that address these needs.
A primary focus of the OPC is to provide grant funding that directly supports fishermen, communities, and businesses that are willing to investigate and pursue new management approaches. In 2009, the OPC released the California Fisheries Challenge, a competitive grant program that offers fishermen and communities in the state an opportunity to submit proposals that will improve and sustain long-term fishery health and sustainability. The California Fisheries Fund is another innovative undertaking that offers loans to California fishing communities, groups, associations, and businesses to assist in transitioning to more environmentally and economically sustainable fishing practices and governance. This is particularly important when conventional investment capital or loans from traditional financial institutions may not be available. The first loans and lines of credit from the California Fisheries Fund were distributed to a fisherman, a dockside fish buyer, and a distribution company from the Central Coast in 2009.
Much of the OPC’s fishery work is also aimed at partnering with DFG to more fully achieve its mandate. In 2006, the OPC and DFG developed the Joint Workplan, which included a wide variety of projects funded through an $8 million appropriation. These projects focus on collecting and analyzing essential data to apply to the decision-making process and improving DFG vessels and equipment. The data collected pertains to marine ecology, essential habitats, species interactions, natural processes that affect fish populations, survey techniques, and data report methods.
The OPC tackles important fisheries issues by working with a wide range of stakeholders including commercial and recreation fishermen, state and federal fisheries managers (California Department of Fish and Game, the California Fish and Game Commission, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), NGOs, academia, tribes, and others.
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The coastal area of California is diverse, ranging from towering coastal bluffs to dense urban development and rolling pastoral lands. Immediately offshore, the underwater topography is equally varied with deep canyons, seamounts, and small shelves extending from the shoreline. The OPC is promoting efficient management of these land and marine environs by providing detailed surveys using modern technologies and sharing existing data.
Mapping and spatial data analyses are essential to ensuring the coastal area is understood and effectively utilized. California’s coastal region is home to numerous existing and proposed industrial activities, such as shipping, fishing, dredging, and energy development. Yet these areas also support varied recreational and conservation opportunities. Nearshore water quality is affected by runoff from coastal communities and agricultural practices; habitat and migratory patterns are disturbed by development and commercial activities; and sea level rise and climate change impacts will change the coast as we know it. With such a myriad of interests, uses, and potential impacts, the OPC is taking a leading role to record the coastal area and ensure important geospatial data are available to resource agencies.
The objective of the OPC is to modernize and consolidate geospatial information about this critical region and make it usable for coastal managers who need to assess cumulative impacts, competing interests, and permitting and planning decisions.
The OPC has three major initiatives under way to achieve this objective: the California Seafloor Mapping Project (CSMP), the terrestrial mapping program, and the Collaborative Geospatial Data Management Effort (CGDME).
Integrating these three initiatives is a long-term goal. The topographic mapping data can be merged with the seafloor mapping data to produce a seamless onshore-offshore map that would greatly enhance the understanding and management of the coastal area. This modern high-resolution map can form the baseline map of any coastal geospatial decision-support tool. Following this integration, the OPC and California will be better prepared to:
For example, the OPC funded a study to project inundation and erosion impacts from future sea level rise; however, the mapping data available for this project was less than optimal. In the future, such data will be readily available to anyone and will set the stage for a better understanding of our coastal and marine environment and how humans interact with this landscape.
Solving complex ocean resource problems requires scientific understanding of how ocean and coastal ecosystems function. The OPC strives to bridge the gaps between scientists, the public, and resource managers by supporting applied scientific research and the translation of data into usable information.
The OPC integrates and utilizes existing scientific information in many ways. Working with the Science Advisory Team (OPC-SAT), the OPC ensures that the best available science is applied to OPC policy decisions. The OPC-SAT is coordinated by the California Ocean Science Trust (OST) and co-chaired by the OST Executive Director. One of the OPC-SAT’s fundamental functions is evaluating the technical merit of scientific projects by suggesting experts to serve as peer reviewers for OPC proposals and products. In coordination with OPC staff, the OPC-SAT also develops yearly research priorities. Finally, to keep the OPC at the cutting edge of ocean and coastal research, the OPC-SAT identifies critical emerging science issues for OPC consideration, which are used by the council to inform future meeting themes, projects, and workshops.
To support new science, the OPC funds applied ocean research projects that correspond to the priorities proposed by the OPC-SAT. These research projects are solicited and chosen in partnership with the UC Sea Grant program and USC Sea Grant Program in California. Recent years have seen the development of an innovative funding approach: the Focused Research and Outreach Initiative. The goal is to promote well-coordinated, interdisciplinary programs of applied research and training focusing on a priority research topic. The research funded through the Sea Grant programs includes projects on international ecosystem-based management of fishery resources in the Southern California Bight, groundfish assemblages on offshore petroleum platforms on the San Pedro Shelf, and the impacts of ocean acidification on economically important shellfish species.
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