Undersea Wonder : The Teeming Waters Off Monterey at Last May Become a Sanctuary

A hundred yards off Lover’s Point Park, a trio of sea otters glided through thick clumps of pea-green kelp like slalom skiers breezing downhill.

They slipped past two scuba divers in the 15-foot-deep water, seemingly unconcerned about predators, pollution and other dangers serious enough to have landed them on the federal threatened species list.

Environmentalists and marine researchers, however, worry plenty about sea otters and countless other species of marine mammals, fish and underwater plants that make their home in the Monterey Bay’s chilly, deep waters. This week, local scientists, politicians and activists expressed relief after President George Bush announced that he supports a plan to designate the area a national marine sanctuary, protecting a 2,200-square-mile stretch of sea from just north of Ano Nuevo to south of Big Sur.

It is the only area earmarked for permanent protections in Bush’s oil-lease policy, which included a 10-year drilling ban along 99% of the California coast.

“The Monterey Bay, running from Santa Cruz to the Big Sur coast, is without question a national treasure, and it should be preserved as one,” said Rep. Leon Panetta (D-Monterey), likening the bay’s underwater community to national parks such as Yellowstone and Yosemite.

“I think this designation will do that,” said Panetta, who in 1986 proposed that Congress name the bay a national marine sanctuary. Federal environmental officials first suggested the move in 1978, but five years later Monterey Bay was pulled off the list of proposed sanctuaries.

Congress approved the designation for Monterey Bay in 1988, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration drew up plans for final approval several months ago. Because the sanctuary plan would permanently ban oil drilling in the bay, the U.S. Energy and Interior departments objected to the proposal. So the Monterey Bay sanctuary plan remained blocked until Bush on Tuesday formally approved it as a part of his overall oil lease plan.

However, the 12-year battle for comprehensive protection of the bay is expected to continue in public hearings this fall, when proponents of an expanded sanctuary area will argue that full protection of the Monterey Bay won’t be possible without stretching the boundary north to the edge of the Gulf of the Fallones sanctuary off San Francisco, and south another 50 miles beyond Big Sur. Some, including a coalition of environmental groups called the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Environmental Working Group, favor protecting an area 50% larger than the proposed sanctuary.

“The main reason we want to see the largest boundary possible is to have a buffer zone,” said Susan Shane, scientific director of the Monterey-based Friends of the Sea Otter. “You can’t have national parks and have condos right at the boundaries.”

After the hearings, Congress will review the final version of the proposal before sending a sanctuary manager to work in the area. That review probably won’t begin before late November, Panetta said.

The largest submarine canyon in North America slices through Monterey Bay, which as outlined would be larger than any of the nation’s eight existing sanctuaries. Cold water wells up from the mile-deep Monterey Canyon, carrying nutrient-rich deep water into shallow areas, providing an abundance of food that helps keep the area teeming with salmon, seals, whales and the most diverse collection of algae found in North America. It is also home to a number of California’s estimated 1,800 sea otters, which are on the rebound after being hunted to near extinction by the 1950s. Monterey Bay is the largest breeding ground for marine mammals in the lower 48 states.

Monterey Bay is a deep-water environment brought unusually close to shore because of the happy coincidence of the canyon’s location. It provides scientists an unusual opportunity to study relatively unknown marine communities far beneath the surface. A number of research institutions operate on Monterey Bay, including the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station and the Moss Landing Marine Lab.

The area also is home to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which attracts an average 1.7 million visitors each year. The facility features exhibits on the Monterey Bay marine community and showcases a rotating exhibit on other types of marine life.

“It’s one of a handful of very, very rich areas,” said Alan Baldridge, librarian and assistant to the director at Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove. “It’s a rich area both for the scientists and for the fishermen.”

The same waters once fed schools of sardines that kept Cannery Row, made famous by the John Steinbeck novel, booming through the first half of the century.

“Back in the heyday of Cannery Row, we had something in the vicinity of 20 or 30 canneries, but now there’s just one working cannery in the area,” said Bob Leos, a marine biologist for the state Department of Fish and Game. “The sardine industry was a major boost to the local economy. They more or less got things going around here.”

Although sardines were nearly depleted by the 1960s, other catches have kept the Monterey Bay fishing industry alive.

More than one-sixth of the state’s $13.3-million salmon harvest in 1989 came from Monterey Bay’s three ports--Santa Cruz, Moss Landing and Monterey--according to preliminary statistics by the state Department of Fish and Game. Fishermen in the area also hauled in about $1.5 million worth of squid, $1.5 million of swordfish, and $1.8 million of rockfish.

Fishermen hope the marine sanctuary designation will keep alive for years to come the fisheries they depend on for their livelihood.

“This is very important for a lot of people,” first mate Don Elkins said as he stood on the deck of the Vast, a 36-foot salmon boat moored in Monterey Harbor. “So long as the fish are protected, so are we.”

MONTEREY BAY CHRONOLOGY A chronology of events in the campaign to designate Monterey Bay a National Marine Sanctuary:

1972: Congress establishes National Marine Sanctuary program.

October, 1979: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announces that Monterey Bay is an active candidate for the program.

December, 1983: Citing budgetary reasons, NOAA removes Monterey Bay from its list of sanctuary hopefuls.

November, 1986: Rep. Leon Panetta (D-Monterey) introduces legislation to name Monterey Bay a National Marine Sanctuary, but Congress adjourns before discussing the proposal.

January, 1987: Panetta reintroduces the plan.

November, 1988: Congress approves legislation giving Monterey Bay sanctuary status, subject to the approval of federal agencies, who have until December, 1989 to sign off.

January, 1990: Federal officials miss the deadline for establishing the sanctuary.

June 26, 1990: President George Bush announces a 10-year ban on oil drilling along 99% of the California coast. In doing so, he also approves a 2,200-square-mile National Marine Sanctuary at Monterey Bay. If the plan is approved by Congress after public hearings this fall, it would be the fourth such sanctuary on the California coast.