Research
At the college and university level, the "Directory of Academic Marine Programs in California" identifies approximately 50 marine science and research programs in California (including both two- and four-year programs). Some of the major programs include the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California (UC) at San Diego, Hancock Institute for Marine Studies at the University of Southern California (USC), Southern California Marine Institute in Long Beach (a cooperative program between California State University [CSU], USC, and Occidental College), Marine Science Center (within UC Los Angeles), Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (within CSU), Hopkins Marine Station in Monterey (within Stanford University), Santa Barbara Marine Science Institute (within UC Santa Barbara), Bodega Bay Marine Lab (a cooperative program between UC Davis and UC Berkeley), Long Marine Lab (within UC Santa Cruz), Humboldt State Marine Research Program (within CSU), and the Romberg Tiburon Centers (within CSU). The marine research programs at these institutions cover a variety of scientific disciplines, including physical oceanography, biological oceanography, marine biology, marine geology, geophysics, marine chemistry, applied ocean sciences, and coastal economics.
Independent research labs not directly affiliated with universities or colleges conduct important ocean research. For instance, private sector developments in the field of marine biotechnology show promise for medical and industrial applications. Private sector ocean research is often generated during technical development studies, in preparing environmental data for project applications, or in complying with federal, state, or local government permit requirements. Several non-profit research companies and environmental organizations also contribute to California's ocean research inventory. Ocean research is also conducted by state and federal agencies, such as the State Water Resources Control Board, California Department of Fish and Game, Office of Spill Prevention and Response, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Minerals Management Service, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Emerging Technologies
Technologies that are often taken for granted today were once considered speculative, new or "emerging" in recent history. Submersible vehicles can traverse the ocean floor thousands of feet below the surface, underwater cameras and viewers can go where humans are still unable to venture, and offshore oil and gas development can now take place in deep ocean waters previously thought to be inaccessible. Funding and research for such technologies by the military, other government agencies and the private sector have been on the decline for many years, slowing the development of new technologies that could be helpful for ocean and coastal resource protection, industrial development, and resource management.
Information Technology
Ocean resource managers have the responsibility to steward, monitor, and track physical and biological resources that may lie above, below, or on the surface of the sea, in addition to the land resources that impact the ocean ecosystem. For the regulated community, project costs on land or offshore can increase if environmental, economic, engineering, or regulatory information necessary to determine project feasibility or acceptability are not readily available. Timely access to geographically located information is critical for both policy makers and others who need to rapidly assemble the complicated scientific, planning, or regulatory processes that apply to a certain geographic area.
Information about the earth's surface has been placed on maps for thousands of years. However, the complexity of information and its use has evolved substantially in recent times. Originally, maps were used primarily to depict the cosmos, specify land ownership or as aids to navigation, but they have become increasingly important for depicting jurisdictional boundaries, land uses, vegetation, topographic hazards, social and demographic data, population and natural resources distribution, air and water quality patterns, and many other features relevant to public and private decision making. The complications involved with maintaining all this information on one map required the development of theme, or thematic, maps to display specific categories of information. For a resource manager this could mean having a set of maps for wetlands, another for topography, and yet another to depict jurisdictional boundaries.
A computer-assisted geographic information system (GIS) allows multiple sets of information to be placed on a series of electronic maps which can then be viewed and manipulated alone or in combination with other thematic information layers. This tool becomes particularly important for ocean resource management because multi-dimensional data about the ocean surface, water column, and ocean floor can be displayed and analyzed individually or together on computer-generated maps, and can be quickly modified and redisplayed, rather than requiring hours or days to edit or revise a map. Resource managers, researchers, private industry, and members of the public are also interested in gaining rapid access to natural resource data and in the ability to transfer data immediately to specific locations where it can be used. Significant GIS facilities exist at the UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, University of Southern California, and other academic institutions in California.
This file last modified on: Tuesday, January 24, 2006.