CHANNEL ISLANDS : Marine Sanctuary to Get New Steward

The Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, which protects the waters surrounding the islands off the Ventura and Santa Barbara coastlines, will have a new steward after the first of the year, the sanctuary has announced.

Lt. Cmdr. Stephen C. Jameson, a scientific researcher for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has left his post as manager of the 1,250-square-mile sanctuary to take over as executive director of the agency’s Office of Ocean Resources, Conservation and Assessment in Washington, D.C.

Lt. John A. Miller, who now works with the nautical charting division of NOAA in Rockville, Md., will take over as sanctuary manager on Jan. 4. His wife, Troy, and two children will accompany him to his new assignment.

Miller comes to the sanctuary after assignments that have included a study of the ocean food chain in Antarctica, damage assessment on a NOAA ship after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, and study of the air in Kuwait for potential harm to human life after Saddam Hussein’s retreating Iraqi forces set the country’s oil wells afire.

“I’m looking forward to working with the community and the top-notch staff I have,” Miller said in an interview from his home in Damascus, Md. “I want to preserve (the sanctuary’s) programs and protect the resources of the Channel Islands.”

Jameson said Friday that he is anxious to return to the farm in rural Virginia where he and his wife and two children lived before their move West three years ago.

“I’m pleased to go to another exciting new job, and we’re looking forward to going home,” he said.

Jameson said he leaves the sanctuary in good shape after expanding an education program in area schools and working with UC Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara City College on cooperative programs.

But he said that preserving the programs will be a challenge for his successor because the sanctuary’s budget was cut by 60% for the coming year, from $450,000 to about $200,000.

“He will have to work hard to maintain what we’ve built because of the cuts,” he said.

In addition to protecting sea life living around the islands by restricting commercial and pleasure fishing, dumping and low-flying aircraft, the sanctuary also operates a small museum at Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara and runs an educational program in Santa Barbara schools.

Jameson said the program is expected to expand into Ventura County schools in the next year or two.

“Hopefully, with (President-elect) Clinton coming into office, we’ll see more money coming into the program,” he said.