Update:
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico
As we go to press, the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary and the Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association remain in dialogue with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and our partners in spill response. As our involvement develops concretely, we will keep you informed. At present, we continue to support the spill response in ways that best serve the overall effort.
Mole Crab "Baby Boom"
Student Scientists Detect Mole Crab “Baby Boom” on Sanctuary Beaches
For the first time since 2003, tiny Pacific mole crabs (Emerita analoga), called recruits, are settling onto Sanctuary beaches in large numbers.
In the past weeks, students from middle and high schools throughout the Bay Area have investigated mole crab populations on Farallones and northern Monterey Bay marine sanctuary beaches as part of the
LiMPETS (Long-term Monitoring Program and Experiential Training for Students) program.
Many of the beaches monitored by LiMPETS appear to be experiencing this recruitment event, but one beach has stood out in particular: students from Pescadero High School found over 1500 mole crabs, almost all of them recruits, in their samples taken on Pescadero State Beach in late April. That translates to an abundance of about 1600 crabs per square meter of beach!
Continued >>
Increased Marine Protection
On May 1, California’s underwater state park system expanded to include north central coast hot spots like Point Reyes Headlands, Bodega Head, the Farallon Islands, and Fitzgerald Marine Reserve. The science-based marine protected area network, which extends from Point Arena to Pigeon Point, is designed to restore sea life and protect habitat while leaving almost 90% of the coast open for fishing.
The north central coast network, approved last August by the Fish and Game Commission, creates 21 marine protected areas, 3 marine management areas and 6 special closures. Eighty-six square miles (11 percent) of state waters have been designated as fully protected marine reserves.
The objectives of most California MPAs are to protect fish and underwater habitat. However, the North-central Coast regional stakeholders acknowledged that it was also important to protect seabirds and marine mammals because of the area’s historic populations, high species diversity, and known issues with disturbance. Therefore, the region took a new approach with the adoption of Special Closures, which restrict human access to areas that are home to the most diverse and abundant seabird and marine mammal breeding populations in the region. The areas are small when compared to the larger no-take marine reserves or other MPAs. The objective of Special Closures is simple: minimizing disturbance from close-approaching vessels.
For more information, visit: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/northcentralhome.asp
Marine Science Summer Camp
GFNMS partners with Randall Museum to offer marine science summer camp experience
The Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary has partnered with the Randall Museum in San Francisco to offer two sessions of the museum’s summer camp for the fifth time in six years. For two weeks in June, campers will discover the sanctuary and it’s inhabitants through hands-on activities, games, stories and art projects led by sanctuary 
educators. Campers will learn about many local ocean creatures including sharks, whales, squid, turtles, sea stars, sea anemones, crabs and more! They will discover some of the ways that we depend on the ocean and the ocean depends on us.
Located in the geographic center of San Francisco on Corona Heights, The Randall Museum is a free city run science and art museum and is a resource that many locals have yet to discover. The Randall is known for terrific art classes, a wonderful animal room, interactive exhibits and an engaging lecture series on a wide variety of science topics. For more information about the museum or their summer camp, go to www.randallmuseum.org.
Climate Change Impacts Report
The document “Climate Change Impacts: Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries” will be released to the public at California Academy of Sciences Planetarium on Thursday, June 3, 2010, from 8:30 to 9:45 a.m. A panel discussion among some of the report’s authors will focus on key points and recommended lines of future actions.
The report, authored by a working group of the Farallones and Cordell Bank marine sanctuary advisory councils, provides a foundation of information as the first step toward climate change action plans that will be developed for these sanctuaries. Existing observations and science-based expectations were used to identify an extensive suite of current and potential climate change impacts to habitats, plants, and animals within the Bay Area’s unique ocean and coastal zones. Photo: Josh Pederson/SiMon NOAA
