Pacific Region

Alaska Sea Grant
Sea Grant publishes guide on how to safely watch coastal wildlife

• Alaska Sea Grant is offering tips on the do's and don'ts of approaching and watching marine wildlife in its newly published guide Responsible Marine Wildlife Viewing in Alaska. 
• The guide explains the federal laws, including NOAA Fisheries regulations, covering marine wildlife viewing, and offers useful tips on how to safely and responsibly approach and watch coastal wildlife including whales, porpoises and other cetaceans.  
• The publication also offers vessel operators a voluntary Code of Conduct pledge that can be posted aboard their vessels to let passengers and crew know that they follow accepted guidelines to responsible marine wildlife viewing. 
• To learn more, visit:  http://seagrant.uaf.edu/bookstore/pubs/M-49.html

California Sea Grant
Sea Grant biologists rear brown rockfish from birth through critical life stages

• After more than a decade of studying rockfish reproduction, growth and development, California Sea Grant biologists have successfully reared brown rockfish from birth through their critical life stages.  
• The achievement is significant because rockfish, more than other fish, have fragile and complicated early life histories.  They are also prone to overfishing, and have been a priority for fisheries management.

• In August, the Los Angeles Times ran a five-part series on "Altered Oceans," which provided startling evidence about changes occurring in the world's oceans.
• The article on harmful algal blooms quoted USC Sea Grant-funded scientist David A. Caron and USC colleague Astrid Schnetzer, discussing their work on recent recurrent blooms of diatoms and concurrent outbreaks of domoic acid toxicity.
• The researchers focused on a "hot zone" of Pseudo-nitzschia, spanning 155 square miles of coastal waters off the mouths of the Los Angeles and San Gabriel rivers.
• Their study documented the abundances of pseudo-nitzschia in the areas around the Los Angeles harbor breakwater and the associated marine mammal and seabird strandings and deaths during that time. Domoic acid was confirmed in California sea lions, brown pelicans, western grebes, along with high concentrations in planktivorous fish such as anchovies.
• The researchers are still looking for the link. But one thing is clear, said Caron, a biological oceanographer: "There is a big dose of nutrients."

• Hawaii Sea Grant, working in partnership with the U.S. EPA and the City and County of Honolulu brought a national team of smart-growth experts to Hawaii to visit with local landowners, developers and city planners. 
• As a result of this effort, home builder D.R. Horton has completely redesigned its plans for development of 15,000 new housing units in Oahu’s “second city” of Kapolei.  
• The planned mixed-use, transit-oriented development, scheduled to break ground next year, represents the first of its kind comprehensive approach to regional planning in Hawaii.  It will provide a national example of how urban growth can be accommodated in coastal areas while minimizing coastal environmental impacts.

Oregon Sea Grant
Sea Grant engineers are working with coastal communities to tap offshore energy

• The United States consumes more electricity than any other country in the world.  More than half of that energy is produced from nonrenewable fossil fuels.  
• Some forward-thinking scientists believe we need look no further than the pent-up energy in the ocean waves that constantly pound the nation’s shores. 
• Supported in part by program development funds from Oregon Sea Grant, engineering faculty and students at Oregon State University have been working to develop the concepts and tests for an emerging wave energy technology.  
• Their work is captured in a new 12-minute DVD that demonstrates the enthusiasm growing around this potential power source.  For more information see the “Sea Power” report (and video) in the university's research magazine: http://oregonstate.edu/terra/2006spring/features/seapower.html

Washington Sea Grant
Sea Grant enjoys another NOAA Science Camp success

• Congratulations to the NOAA/Washington Sea Grant team for scoring yet another win with the fourth successive week-long NOAA Science Camp in Seattle.  
• The camp began in 2003 to educate under-served and other Seattle youth in NOAA-related sciences.  
• This summer, 65 seventh and eighth graders from 32 schools experienced science firsthand as they addressed complex environmental issues by learning to interpret information, conduct investigations and report outcomes to a broad audience.  
• NOAA scientists helped develop lesson plans in areas such as water sampling, marine mammal tagging, and photo-identification of humpback whales.  
• This year’s activities attracted assistance from 10 teachers and 11 high school and undergraduate interns.  To learn more, visit:  http://www.nwfsc.noaa.gov/sciencecamp.cfm