By Donna Hemmila
The governors of Oregon and Washington joined Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in July to create a historic West Coast ocean management plan. This new regional approach to the challenges facing our coastal communities embraces many of the same problems University of California researchers have long been dedicated to solving.
The West Coast Governors' Ocean Action Plan focuses on several areas that are among the top priorities of UC oceanographers, marine biologists, marine anthropologists and other scientists and engineers: keeping coastal waters and beaches clean, protecting and restoring habitats, instituting ecosystem-based coastal resource management and promoting sustainable coastal development. Here is just a sampling of the work being done at UC marine research centers to preserve the priceless cultural, scenic and economic resources of the Pacific Ocean for future California generations.
Reserves play role in global warming survival
Robert Warner, chair, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, UC Santa Barbara
Seawater tapped for drought solutions
Jeffrey Graham, marine biologist, Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego
Riding the wave of alternative energy
Richard Seymour, head of the Ocean Engineering Research Group, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego
Harmful algal blooms threaten marine life
Mary Wilcox Silver, professor, Ocean Sciences Department, UC Santa Cruz; adjunct scientist, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
For more information:
West Coast governors launch Ocean Action Plan
Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans
Scripps researchers race to make desalination eco-friendly
Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems
Central & Northern California Ocean Observing System
Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System
Donna Hemmila is editor of Your University. This article first appeared in the September edition of Your University.