Southern California Bight Regional Marine Monitoring Program

Southern California Bight Southern California Bight Regional Marine Monitoring ProgramRegional Marine Monitoring Program

Ken SchiffKen Schiff

www.SCCWRP.orgwww.SCCWRP.org

Monitoring in the Southern Monitoring in the Southern California BightCalifornia Bight

• More than $31M per year monitoring the SCB– Ca. 75% is by NPDES permittees

• Approximately 5% of the areas is routinely monitored– Inconsistency in the areas that are monitored

• Unable to answer basic questions about the health of the SCB

Development of Regional Development of Regional Marine MonitoringMarine Monitoring

• Regional Monitoring surveys every five years– aka the “Bight Program” (1994, 1998, 2003)

• Integrated, collaborative monitoring using existing local programs– Periodic “trade-off” for site-specific monitoring

• Address cumulative effects– Assess the range of natural variability

Bight ’03 as an Example Bight ’03 as an Example

• 61 Organizations

• $7M Program– Less than $700K cash

• Three major components– Coastal Ecology– Shoreline microbiology– Water quality

Coastal Ecology ComponentCoastal Ecology Component

• What is the spatial extent and magnitude of impact in the SCB?– How does this vary among areas of interest?

• What is the mass of pollutants in the SCB?– Sediments, water, biota?– How does this compare to emissions from land-

based discharges?

Areas of InterestAreas of Interest

• Offshore– Depth zones from surfzone to deep coastal basins

• Embayment– Ports, harbors, marinas, estuaries

• Publicly owned treatment works (POTWs)– Large, small

• Channel islands

Map of B’03 Strata

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Santa Barbara

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San Diego

120°0'0"W 119°0'0"W 118°0'0"W

33°0'0"N

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Kilometers

Bight '03 Chemistry Sample Sitesby Subpopulation

#* Basin

!( Bays") Estuaries$+ Island Shelf%, Mainland Shelf#* POTW!( Slope

IndicatorsIndicators

• Sediment characteristics• Sediment chemistry• Sediment toxicity• Infaunal biological community• Fish community• Fish bioaccumulation• Fish pathology• Debris and trash

Cumulative EffectsCumulative Effects

Percent of SCB Total

Strata Area Copper

Mass

Total DDT

Mass

Embayments 0.7 2.1 0.5

Mainland Shelf 22.4 10.1 13.7

POTWs 1.3 1.0 9.9

Slope and Basin 67.8 84.6 75.5

Islands 8.0 2.2 0.4

SanDiego

Dana Point

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Total DDT in Sediments of the SCBTotal DDT in Sediments of the SCB

Total DDT in Water Column of the SCBTotal DDT in Water Column of the SCB

Low to Moderate Risk

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MarginalDeviationReference

Biological Effects in EmbaymentsBiological Effects in Embayments(Benthic Response Index)(Benthic Response Index)

Shoreline Microbiology Shoreline Microbiology ComponentComponent

• What is the extent and magnitude of shoreline impacted by bacteria?– How does it vary by area?

• Are fecal indicator bacteria correlated with human specific virus?

• What is the relationship between shoreline concentrations and surfzone concentrations?


• Fecal indicator bacteria– Total coliforms, fecal coliforms, enterococci

• New methods– Rapid indicators

• Human specific virus

Shoreline Water QualityShoreline Water Quality

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Water Quality ComponentWater Quality Component

• What is the extent of stormwater plumes in the coastal oceans?– What is the temporal lifecycle of plumes?

• What is the impact of stormwater plumes ?

• Is remote sensing a useful monitoring technique?– Use boats for groundtruthing


• Remotely sensed data– space, air, ground, water

• Water quality data– Physical data– Nutrients, trace metals, trace organics, toxicity

• Biological data– Plankton, domoic acid

Collaboration is a Powerful Collaboration is a Powerful and Positive Forceand Positive Force

• Greater perspective of environmental condition– More than any single agency can accomplish

• Development of regional scale assessment tools– Biocriteria, Sediment quality objectives

• Excellent platform to test new ideas and technology– Remote sensing, in situ samplers, others– New chemicals of concern, improved methodology

Collaboration is a Powerful Collaboration is a Powerful and Positive Forceand Positive Force

• Requires work to assure comparability– Quality assurance, information management, etc

• Fosters communication– Regulated, regulatory, environmental communities must

agree on data assessment

• Results are directly integrated into the management framework– Regional monitoring being written into NPDES permits

Documents

Southern California Bight Regional Marine Monitoring Program