Major Marine Science Facilities in the Monterey Bay Crescent 2014
As of July 2014, there were 25 marine science federal or state agency programs, facilities, and institutions clustered around Monterey Bay, with over 2,300 scientists and support staff and annual budgets totaling more than $315 million.
1. Institute of Marine Sciences, Long Marine Laboratory (University of California, Santa Cruz)
Focus: Marine vertebrate biology, coastal biology, microbiology and environmental toxicology, continental margin tectonics, coastal processes, ocean processes & paleoceanography, fisheries and fishery management and marine policy.
▪ Researchers/staff: 265 (+ 130 affiliated research scientists)
▪ Annual budget: State: ~$5,000,000; Extramural ~$20,000,000
2. National Marine Fisheries Service – Santa Cruz Laboratory (NMFS/NOAA)
Focus: Conduct research relevant to the conservation and management of coast groundfish resources, and the restoration and recovery of threatened and endangered anadromous fishes (salmon, sturgeon and steelhead trout) in California.
▪ Researchers/staff: 105
▪ Budget: $7,300,000 federal; $4,000,000 extramural
3. Marine Veterinary Care and Research Center – California Department of Fish and Wildlife – Office of Spill Prevention and Response
Focus: Oil spill response readiness, sea otter and other marine vertebrate research, investigation of marine pathogens and other sources of pollution.
▪ Researchers/staff: 21
▪ Annual budget: ~$950,000 state; ~$200,000 extramural
4. Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (California State University)
Focus: Open ocean and coastal oceanography (biological, chemical, physical and geological), remote sensing, coastal monitoring, marine ecology, ichthyology, botany, vertebrate and invertebrate biology, fisheries.
▪ Researchers/graduate students/staff: 375
▪ Budget: $3,100,000 state; $20,000,000 extramural
5. Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve
Focus: Ecology, biology, estuarine research, monitoring, education, decision maker training, management and restoration
▪ Researchers/staff: 20
▪ Budget: $1,150,000
Focus: Assist in support of ESNERR, serve as a community-supported land trust in the central Monterey Bay area for the acquisition and restoration of key lands and waters in the Elkhorn Slough watershed.
▪ Staff: 10 Land Trust Staff, 15 staff working in support of Reserve Programs
▪ Budget: $1,500,000, extramural funding $2,000,000
7. Hopkins Marine Station (Stanford University)
Focus: Ecology, physiology, evolution, cellular biology, biomechanics, molecular biology, and neuroscience of marine organisms.
▪ Researchers/staff/graduate students: 100
▪ Budget: $6,500,000
Focus: Public Education, marine research and advocacy related to marine conservation.
▪ Researchers/staff: 507 (+50 seasonal and 1200 volunteers)
▪ Budget: $85,500,000
9. Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Focus: Technology enabled ocean science; deep-sea geology and geochemistry, biology and microbiology; upper ocean physics and biogeochemistry. Instrument, sensor and mooring development for fundamental ocean research. Underwater vehicle technologies.
▪ Researchers/staff: 200
▪ Budget: $40,000,000
Focus: Graduate education and research in physical oceanography & meteorology. Oceanography Department concentrations: numerical prediction and data assimilation, coastal and nearshore oceanography, air-sea interaction and ocean turbulence, polar oceanography, acoustical oceanography and geographical information systems. Meteorology Department concentrations: coastal and mesoscale meteorology, numerical weather prediction, remote sensing, tropical meteorology and climate dynamics, boundary layer meteorology and air-sea interaction.
▪ Researchers/graduate students/staff: 70
▪ Budget: Oceanography: $11,000,000; Meteorology: $7,000,000
11. University of California Sea Grant Extension Program
Focus: Fisheries research, coastal and marine resource policy, public education.
▪ Staff: 6
▪ Budget: $700,000
12. National Marine Fisheries Service – Pacific Fisheries Environmental Laboratory (NMFS/NOAA)
Focus: Research to assess, understand, and predict climate and environmental variability and its impacts on marine fish populations and ecosystems. Provide global science-based environmental data, products, and information to meet research and management needs for a diverse group of stakeholders.
▪ Researchers/staff: 15
▪ Budget: $2,000,000 Federal; $1,000,000 extramural
13. Naval Research Laboratory, Marine Meteorology Division
Focus: Basic and applied research in air-sea interaction and marine boundary layer processes, especially in the tropics, the arctic, and coastal environments; multi-scale dynamics, including seasonal- to climate-scale oscillations; predictability of chaotic systems; advanced data assimilation/adaptive observing methodologies. Measurement, characterization, and analysis of ocean and land surface characteristics and the state of the atmosphere and its constituents through direct field measurement and through application of remotely sensed observations. Development and transition of operational environmental guidance products such as multi-scale data assimilation/ numerical weather prediction and coupled air-ocean prediction systems; aerosol prediction systems; tropical cyclone prediction systems; ensemble/ probabilistic prediction systems; decision aids/risk assessment systems or their environmental databases.
▪ Researchers/visiting scientists and postdocs/staff: 110
▪ Budget: $30,000,000
14. Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (USN)
Focus: Operating high-speed computing systems for highest quality, most relevant and timely worldwide meteorological and oceanographic forecasts, products, and services for the Department of Defense, Coalition forces, other government agencies, universities and the general public.
▪ Researchers/staff: 180
▪ Budget: ~$20,000,000
15. National Weather Service Forecast Office (NOAA)
Focus: Issuance of public, aviation, marine and fire weather warnings, watches, advisories and forecasts for the greater San Francisco and Monterey Bay regions. Collection and dissemination of meteorological and climatological observations and data. Education and outreach.
▪ Staff: 26
▪ Budget: $3,000,000
16. Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Offices (NOAA)
Focus: Protect natural and cultural resources through comprehensive conservation and management; support and coordinate research on, and monitoring of, marine resources to improve management decision-making; enhance public awareness, understanding, and wise us of the marine environment through public interpretive programs; and facilitate, to the extent compatible with the primary objective of resource protection, multiple uses of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
▪ Staff: 23
▪ Budget: $ 2,700,000
17. Seymour Marine Discovery Center at Long Marine Laboratory (UCSC)
Focus: Public marine sciences education for both K-12 and general public focused on interpreting marine research carried out by UCSC marine scientists.
▪ Staff: 11 (+200 volunteers)
▪ Budget: $950,000
18. U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Science Center, Santa Cruz
Focus: Coastal and marine geology of the Pacific region. Studies focus on environmental, hazard, and resource issues and are conducted in the context of the national programs of the USGS. Purpose is to generate scientific understanding needed for wise decisions concerning stewardship and development of America’s coasts and marine regions.
▪ Staff: 100
▪ Budget: $18,000,000
19. Division of Science and Environmental Policy – California State University Monterey Bay
Focus: Marine and coastal ecology, and watershed characterization & management; extramurally funded research programs include the Seafloor Mapping Lab, the Institute for Applied Marine Ecology, the Marine Landscape Ecology Lab, the Watershed Institute and NASA Cooperative.
▪ Researchers/Technicians/Graduate Students/Staff: 80
▪ Budget: $1,800,000 state; augmented with over $5,000,000 in extramural funding
20. California Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, Marine Region, Monterey
Focus: Marine resource management and policy: state/federal fisheries, state managed fisheries, habitat conservation and resource assessment.
▪Staff: 24
▪ Budget: $2,500,000
21. NOAA National Marine Protected Areas Center
Focus: Ocean use analysis, building the national system of MPAs, and cultural heritage.
▪Staff: 3-5 (including fellows, interns and visiting scientists)
▪Budget: $700,000
Focus: Prevent extinctions by removing invasive species on islands. Our goal is to prevent extinctions by working where the concentration of both biodiversity and species extinction is greatest—on islands. Over the last 17 years, Island Conservation and local partners have protected 890 populations of 305 species on 48 islands. IC’s work to protect island dependent species includes projects in the Southwest Pacific, Chile, Ecuador, Alaska, California, Hawaii, British Columbia, and the Caribbean.
▪ Staff: 36
▪ Budget: $6,800,000
23. Center for Ocean Solutions
Focus: The Center for Ocean Solutions (COS) is a collaboration among Stanford University (through its Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and Hopkins Marine Station), the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). The Center for Ocean Solutions works to solve the major problems facing the ocean and prepares leaders to take on these challenges. The focal areas COS uses to categorize its work—ecosystem health, climate change, and land-sea interactions—are inextricably linked, and work in one area informs and advances work in the other areas.
▪ Staff: 20 plus 80 affiliated researchers
▪ Budget: $3,000,000
24. Center for the Blue Economy, Middlebury Institute of International Studies
Focus: The Center for the Blue Economy promotes ocean and coastal sustainability by providing the best available information to empower governments, NGOs, businesses, and concerned citizens to make educated decisions about the marine environment. The Center produces and disseminates data on a wide range of ocean and coastal values, and conducts original, data-driven analysis for international policy-making and management. The Center’s academic program educates the next generation of marine leaders, equipping them with essential interdisciplinary skills to synthesize complex information, manage diverse teams, determine best practices, produce original research, and help shape and direct the agenda for global marine policy and management.
▪ Staff: 6
▪ Budget: ~$1,200,000
Focus: The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has two key programs: Global Marine Initiative & Central Science - based at the University of California Santa Cruz at Long Marine Laboratory in the Center for Ocean Health. TNC’s mission is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. TNC was founded in 1951 and has more than 600 scientists located in all 50 U.S. states and more than 35 countries. Our programs at UCSC focus on developing new approaches for reducing ecological and social vulnerability particularly around climate adaptation and hazard mitigation.
▪ Staff: 2 plus affiliated researchers
▪ Budget: $1,000,000+
TOTALS (July 2014)
Faculty/researchers/staff/graduate students: 2,337
Budget: $314,250,000
