We are excited to get back on the water this year — spring, sunshine, and research vessel contracts are in the air.
Fieldwork will kick off around late May with the deployment of oceanographic moorings and setting out of SMURF moorings for collecting juvenile fish samples. These moorings will remain in the water through September. Fieldwork this summer will focus on collecting juvenile fishes from the SMURFs and on intertidal sea star surveys. Fall fieldwork will include both hook-and-line and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) surveys.
Monitoring activities scheduled at each of the marine reserves this year include:
- Cape Falcon: Oceanographic moorings gathering data on temperature, salinity, and oxygen.
- Cascade Head: Hook-and-line surveys, ROV surveys, intertidal sea star surveys, and oceanographic data collection*
- Otter Rock: SMURF surveys, intertidal sea star surveys, oceanographic data collection
- Cape Perpetua: Hook-and-line surveys, intertidal sea star surveys*, oceanographic data collection*
- Redfish Rocks: SMURF surveys, oceanographic data collection*
* Fieldwork that will be led by our collaborators at the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Study of Coastal Oceans (PISCO)