Honoring Congressman Sam Farr’s ocean legacy

A surfbird hunts for prey in a Monterey Bay tide pool.

As a kid in the 1940s, Sam Farr used to frequent the tide pools on Carmel Beach, exploring and playing with the multitude of colorful creatures that lived there. But when he returned as an adult with his young daughter in tow, the tide pools weren’t quite how he remembered them.

“Not a single animal was there,” he recalls. “Not a sea urchin, not a sea anemone, not a hermit crab.”

The experience added to Farr’s already deep-seated belief that ocean health is crucial to the well-being of our planet and ourselves. First as a California State Assemblyman from 1980-1993, and then as a U.S. Congressman from 1993 to the present, he acted on that belief by creating state and federal legislation to protect our ocean and coast, and to support ocean research along Monterey Bay.

Now, after more than 40 years of public service, Farr is returning from Washington, D.C. to his home in Carmel, California to, in his words, “become a full-time grandfather” to his daughter Jessica’s children, Ella and Zachary.

On Dec. 1, 2016, Monterey Bay Aquarium honored Sam Farr’s lifelong contributions to ocean conservation at a reception for community leaders and philanthropists.

Marine protected areas: a smart approach

Last August, U.S. President Barack Obama created (what was then) the largest protected area on Earth.

Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. Photo by NOAA

Obama’s executive order, which came after numerous public meetings, more than quadrupled the size of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. The 500,000-square-mile area, surrounding a chain of northwestern Hawaiian Islands, is now protected from commercial fishing and resource extraction.

The monument hosts an abundance and diversity of wildlife, much of it unique to the area. Its expansion was an important step toward protecting more of the global oceans, and showing the world that the United States is committed to doing its part in marine protection.

While Papahānaumokuākea boasts a wide variety of ocean life, marine biodiversity—according to a new study co-authored by Kyle Van Houtan, director of science at Monterey Bay Aquarium—is even higher in some other parts of the ocean.

His paper affirms that marine protected areas are an effective tool for protecting ocean life in the face of rapidly accelerating global change. However, much work remains ahead.

A healthy coast supports a strong economy

 It’s all one ocean—and we’re connected with it in deep and surprising ways. Today’s guest post by Paul Michel, superintendent of Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, addresses the relationship between resource protection and economic vitality in the Monterey Bay region.

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The communities of Monterey Bay need a healthy coast and ocean. Our economy relies on tourism, commercial and recreational fisheries, recreation such as boating and surfing, and marine science. Even the ocean-influenced weather patterns here provide for some of the most productive agriculture in the United States.

Paul Michel, superintendent of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, goes deep on ocean protection.

In other words, the protection of our coastal and marine resources is essential to our long-term environmental and economic vitality.

The Monterey Bay region has a strong legacy of residents taking action—especially in the late 1980s and into the early ’90s. Oil and gas development, wastewater discharges and uncontrolled agricultural and urban runoff threatened the health and beauty of this beloved stretch of California coast.

Marine protected areas: building climate change resilience

From Nov. 30-Dec. 11, leaders from more than 190 nations are gathering in Paris for the 2015 United Nations Conference on Climate Change, or COP21. The conference aims to achieve a binding international agreement to slow the pace of climate change. If we as a global community take bold and meaningful action in Paris, we can change course and leave our heirs a better world. Monterey Bay Aquarium is working to raise public awareness about the many ways our carbon emissions affect ocean health, including ocean acidification, warming sea waters and other impacts on marine life. Today, we shine a spotlight on one of the ocean’s most powerful tools to weather the impacts of climate change.

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The climate talks in Paris aren’t just about trying to prevent future catastrophe. They’re also about preparing for, and mitigating, the changes already underway.

Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary is an MPA off the California Coast. Greg McCall/ONMS

The goal at COP21 is to reach an international accord that will substantially cut the world’s carbon emissions, limiting global average temperatures to a 2-degree Celsius rise. But even if we achieve this best-case scenario, climate change will still have serious impacts on the ocean, including higher sea levels, warmer waters, shifting species distributions and ocean acidification.

We’re making a difference for the ocean in Sacramento

The California State Capitol is 75 miles from the coast, but the laws forged there can have big impacts on the health of the ocean. That’s why the Monterey Bay Aquarium supported a half-dozen ocean-related bills during the 2015 legislative session. Many were signed into law.

We’re active on behalf of ocean issues in California. Photo © Steven Pavlov.

The Aquarium also hosts the annual Ocean Day California reception in Sacramento, bringing together California legislators, state administrators, businesspeople and ocean conservation leaders to celebrate conservation of the ocean. Each year we honor California ocean champions who took action to advance marine and coastal health – including backers of important legislation.

Here’s our final scorecard for the 2015 legislative session.

Our Ocean 2015: A global commitment to ocean health

Ocean issues were front and center this week when Secretary of State John Kerry joined other world leaders this week in Valparaiso, Chile for the second Our Ocean Conference. The United States and other coastal nations made significant commitments to improve the health and sustainable use of our global seas.  

We’re pleased to see that many of these commitments tackle some of the Aquarium’s Conservation & Science priorities: promoting marine protected areas, advancing sustainable fisheries, reducing ocean plastic pollution and slowing climate change. Policy Director Aimee David represented the Aquarium at the conference.

“It’s so encouraging to see Secretary Kerry, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and other global leaders come together to acknowledge how important the ocean is to our future,” Aimee says. “More importantly, they’ve committed to specific, concrete actions that address the most serious challenges facing the ocean today.” Among the highlights: