California Sea Grant College Program

For at least the past six years, the West Coast Shellfish industry has observed larval mortality in hatcheries and poor larval recruitment success for some species in the wild, especially during periods of high upwelling. One hypothesis is that these dramatic declines in productivity may be related to increasing ocean acidity and the corresponding decrease in the saturation state of carbonate minerals which shellfish use to create their shells. The West Coast shellfish industry sought help from scientists to explore the causes of the shellfish losses, what role ocean acidification and other factors might be playing, and how to adapt to sustain West Coast shellfish resources. Addressing questions about ocean acidification requires integration of ocean observing measurements, laboratory exposure studies, shellfish recruitment and production data, and field studies of organism performance in relation to ocean conditions. However, these data are collected by different sectors that, to date, have had limited interaction. To stimulate collaborations among these sectors, and at the request of the shellfish farming and wild harvest communities, the Integrated Ocean Observing Systems, California Sea Grant, USC Sea Grant, Oregon Sea Grant, Washington Sea Grant, and California Ocean Science Trust convened a workshop. Fifty‐one participants were invited, including state and federal managers, industry representatives, and leading academic researchers and oceanographers with expertise in larval recruitment, laboratory studies, and ocean chemistry.

University of California Sea Grant Extension Program and the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) convened a fisheries management workshop December 1-4, 2008, in Berkeley, CA. The workshop, entitled “Managing Data-Poor Fisheries: Case Studies, Models and Solutions,” was designed to provide ideas to CDFG about ways to manage California fisheries when available data are insufficient for single species or ecosystem-based management.

The Humboldt Bay Stewards hosted a one-day public symposium titled, “Current Perspectives on the Physical and Biological Processes of Humboldt Bay,” on March 15, 2004. The purpose of the symposium was to ex- amine biological and physical processes to gain a better understanding of Humboldt Bay. The need for the symposium was clear, as there were many plans, projects and studies ongoing at the time.

The symposium included 19 presentations and a panel discussion. Ten of the presentations are included as papers or in the appendices as a report or plan. A major topic addressed in several papers was sediment sources and transport. Sediment was addressed historically (Tuttle), oceanographically (Crawford and Claasen), in the watershed (Barrett), relative to eelgrass (Shaughnessy et al.), fouling communities (Boyle et al.), and management (Davenport). Though Davenport did not submit a paper on the California Sediment Management Plan, Appendix A includes a copy of this important and innovative plan that was completed in 2006.

Other management topics included an overview of the Humboldt Bay Management Plan. From the biological perspective, papers are included on marine invasive species, eelgrass, fish and fouling communities. Worldwide, increasing attention is directed towards aquatic invasive species and their impacts on biodiver- sity and ecosystems.

The presentation on invasive species at this symposium showed their occurrence around Humboldt Bay. The purpose of the study was to provide reliable baseline information for further studies and monitoring. The “Non-indigenous Marine Species of Humboldt Bay, California” is included in Appendix II. This study was part of a program funded by the California Department of Fish and Game that included most of the bays and estuaries in California. The innovative fish habitat paper, (Gleason et al.) uses a novel GIS approach to the study of Humboldt Bay fishes. Eelgrass provides a major habitat in Humboldt Bay. Summarizing what we know, don’t know and need to know about Humboldt Bay eelgrass provides a fruitful source of many possible studies. Fouling com- munities have not been previously studied in Humboldt Bay. The study presented here is the beginning of a long-term project that we can expect to hear more about at future symposia.

Among the many invasions that have stressed coastal marine systems in recent years, none have had such broad-reaching biological and political impacts as the Caulerpa taxifolia invasions of the Mediterranean Sea, Australia, and the United States. From its initial invasion of the northwest Mediterranean in 1984, to its discovery in Agua Hedionda Lagoon and Huntington Harbour in the summer of 2000 in California, this invasive alga has produced dramatic changes both in the biological landscape of coastal bays and estuaries and the political landscape of invasive species management.