November Field Updates, 2016

Fulfilling our mission to protect and restore the Morro Bay estuary for people and wildlife requires a lot of hard work in the field. Read on to see what our staff and volunteers have been up to during the month of November. Eelgrass Monitoring November was a busy month of eelgrass fieldwork for the monitoring staff. We continued monitoring the eelgrass restoration bed near Coleman beach and also took advantage of the great negative tides to conduct bed condition monitoring. These negative tides are great for fieldwork because of how much of the intertidal zone (the area that is exposed at a …

October Field Updates, 2016

November 4, 2016 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program california conservation corps eelgrass estuary estuary program field field updates field work jennifer o'leary morro bay sea grass seagrass snails volunteer Blog Posts

Here, Shane places the quadrat at meter 75 of our 150-meter transect.

Fulfilling our mission to protect and restore the Morro Bay estuary for people and animals requires a lot of hard work in the field. Read on to see what our staff and volunteers have been up to during the month of October. Fish trawl study We started off the month by helping Cal Poly Professor and California Sea Grant Extension Specialist Dr. Jennifer O’Leary conduct fish trawls in Morro Bay. In 2007, seven different sites around Morro Bay were trawled to catalog what species were present. Now, after the decline of eelgrass beds in the bay, the same sites are being trawled again …

September Field Updates

October 7, 2016 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program anemone bugs bulla snail eelgrass estuary field update morro bay paddleboard paddling Blog Posts

Fulfilling our mission to protect and restore the Morro Bay estuary for people and animals requires a lot of hard work in the field. Read on to see what our staff and volunteers have been up to during the month of September. Eelgrass September kicked off our busy fall season of eelgrass monitoring. We started the monitoring of eelgrass restoration beds planted in 2012–2014 for the presence and condition of eelgrass. To conduct this monitoring, our staff heads out on paddleboards with handheld GPS units and snorkel gear to find each restoration bed in search of eelgrass. Information gathered from this monitoring …

August Field Updates

September 2, 2016 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program creek eelgrass estuary field updates morro bay Blog Posts

They got a calm, glassy morning for monitoring.

Fulfilling our mission to protect and restore the Morro Bay estuary for people and animals requires a lot of hard work in the field. Read on to see what our staff and volunteers have been up to during the month of August. Monitoring Staff Updates August was a quiet month for field work. Our monitoring staff spent time entering data and planning for upcoming eelgrass monitoring projects, but still got out into the field a few times. Our Field Technician, Evan, put on his snorkel gear and helped CalPoly professor Jenn Yost collect more eelgrass samples for genetic analysis. We collected water …

July Field Updates

August 5, 2016 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program eelgrass estuary field work fish morro bay Blog Posts

Fulfilling our mission to protect and restore the Morro Bay estuary for people and animals requires a lot of hard work in the field. Read on to see what our staff and volunteers have been up to during the month of July. Eelgrass Surveys We had an exciting month of eelgrass surveys in July. Our monitoring staff helped CalPoly Professor Jenn Yost collect eelgrass samples for genetic analysis. Thanks to Tenney Rizzo from Cal Poly for some great group shots! Fish seining at Windy Cove We also got to help CalPoly graduate student Erin Aiello seine for fish at Windy …

March Field Updates

April 8, 2016 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program conservation eelgrass estuary field update morro bay restoration restore seagrass volunteer Blog Posts

A surfboard works as the perfect desk for a day of eelgrass monitoring

Fulfilling our mission to protect and restore the Morro Bay estuary for people and animals requires a lot of hard work in the field. Today, we’re bringing you our first set of monthly field updates to show you what our staff and volunteers are doing on the ground. Monitoring Updates With the help of NOAA/CCC Veterans Corps members, we reinstalled one staff plate (a long ruler that can be used to measure water depth) that was knocked out during winter storms. We monitored for sediment during the big rain at the beginning of March. We completed …

Sea Otter Awareness Week 2015

September 24, 2015 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program eelgrass kelp forest keystone species mike baird sea otter sea otter awareness week Blog Posts

It’s Sea Otter Awareness Week, which makes us remember how lucky we are to have a group of southern sea otters living in Morro Bay. Sea otters don’t have the blubber that other marine mammals depend on to keep them warm. Instead, they have water-resistant coats that are very thick, with up to one-million hairs per square inch. Because of this, their pelts were prized by hunters and furriers in the 18th and 19th centuries, leading to a huge reduction in the worldwide otter population. The situation along the California coast was so dire that otters were thought to be …

Understanding Eelgrass Decline and Evaluating Restoration Activities

September 3, 2015 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program conservation eelgrass morro bay morro bay national estuary program restoration rhizome seagrass decline Blog Posts

Restoration Projects Manager, Jen Nix (on right) readies materials for our eelgrass seed dispersal project.

Morro Bay’s eelgrass beds are a critical resource. They provide food and shelter to many plants and animals, including juvenile rockfish, steelhead trout, various shorebirds and waterfowl, and the southern sea otter. Eelgrass also helps to improve water quality. It increases water clarity, produces oxygen, sequesters carbon, and absorbs excess nutrients. Studies have shown that eelgrass is also capable of removing toxic contaminants from marine sediments. Unfortunately, eelgrass beds are diminishing worldwide. Nearly ¼ million acres of eelgrass have been lost globally over the last 30 years. This rate is comparable to losses reported for mangroves, coral reefs, and …

Opportunities at the Morro Bay National Estuary Program’s Nature Center

April 9, 2015 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program eelgrass estuary morro bay morro bay national estuary program nature center steelhead visit volunteer what to do in morro bay Blog Posts

The Estuary Nature Center invites visitors to experience the beauty of the estuary and learn about protecting its sensitive habitats and wildlife. At the Nature Center, you can view aquariums of steelhead trout and eelgrass, and learn about the threats they face. You’ll see 3-D images of the estuary, learn about the watershed that supplies it with freshwater, and much more. Visitors can also enjoy the spectacular view and take advantage of the center’s binoculars to do some wildlife watching. To enhance visitors’ Nature Center experience, the Estuary Program is excited to continue our Nature Center Docent Program, which …