Sandy beaches and surf zones offer clues to ocean health

IGPMS student and researcher, Jessica Madden, placed an instrument known as a Baited Remote Underwater Video (BRUV) to capture data that helps provide information about the health of California beaches. This research is led by Dr. Jenifer Dugan and is one of seven large-scale Marine Protected Area (MPA) monitoring projects funded by the California Ocean Protection Council in partnership with California Department of Fish and Wildlife and California Sea Grant. This research will help researchers and California natural resource managers understand if California’s MPA system is working as intended as a refuge for ocean species and a tool to enhance abundance and diversity of ocean ecosystems. Combined with previous baseline monitoring projects and continuing monitoring efforts, the data will contribute to a long time-series that should help California both assess the success of the MPA system in achieving conservation goals, as well as provide insights in how climate change is affecting the ocean ecosystem.