Submarines Will Explore Channel Islands Sanctuary
Down under the sea, far below the dolphins, way, way beyond the eerily undulating kelp forests is a world no human eyes have ever seen.
But starting next year, explorers will be able to plumb the depths of the sprawling Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary in two tiny one-person submarines.
And that is just one part of what scientists will be able to do, as part of a $6-million, five-year project to explore, document and provide scientific data on America’s 12 national marine sanctuaries.
“It’s very exciting, because nothing like this has ever been done before,” said Laura Francis of the Channel Islands sanctuary. “Many of the places we will visit have never been seen before.”
Scuba divers can go no deeper than 100 feet without risking narcotic side effects. But at its deepest point, in the Santa Cruz Canyon, the bottom is as deep as 3,000 feet.
There, scientists hope to find new species of plant and animal life, sunken ships, Chumash artifacts, even fossils of pygmy mammoths.
The project will be known as the Sustainable Seas Expedition. Locally it will be led by staff from the Channel Islands sanctuary and will use new technology to undertake its pioneer exploration.
“This will give people a sense of another dimension,” said Ed Cassano, sanctuary manager. “People explore space and get excited about it. Well, we will explore inner space. Think how excited people are when we are on Mars with a little robotic car.”
In an effort to involve the local community, Cassano said the sanctuary intends to work with scientists, commercial fishermen, recreational divers, teachers and the general public to develop research and educational plans.
The project is funded through a $5-million grant from the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, a San Francisco-based philanthropic and environmental organization, and $775,000 from the National Geographic Society’s Exploration Council.
Starting in 1999, the Sustainable Seas Expeditions will visit each of the 12 national marine sanctuaries, which are administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Marine parks were first established in 1972, to protect ecological, historical and aesthetic resources. Today there are a dozen, spread from Fagatele Bay in American Samoa, to the wreck of the Civil War ship Monitor off North Carolina.
Four of the 12 sanctuaries are off the California coast: Cordell Bank and Gulf of Farallones near San Francisco, Monterey Bay and the Channel Islands.
Locally, that includes 1,658 square miles of ocean and near-shore habitat around the Channel Islands National Park, which is made up of San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Anacapa, and Santa Barbara islands.
Explorers are especially excited about the areas around the Channel Islands because here, off the coast of Ventura and Santa Barbara, the cold currents of the northern bio-region swirl into the warmer currents of the southern bio-region, giving rise to an area rich in marine life.
Most of the marine sanctuaries are largely unexplored below depths that scuba divers can reach.
“To begin serious, systematic studies of the unknowns of our oceans, it seemed to make sense to focus on the marine sanctuaries--places already recognized as special yet still largely unexplored,” said National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Sylvia Earle, who is leading the expedition.
To explore the depths, two special submarines--costing half a million dollars each--are being built in Canada.
Known as Deep Worker, the submarines--8 feet long and 4 1/2 feet high--can hold one person. A clear acrylic dome fits over the pilot’s head. The miniature sub is powered by four thrusters.
The pilot drives the sub like an underwater car, using a computer touch screen to maneuver and to control the sub’s long mechanical arms. The arms can extend up to 14 feet.
The subs can descend as deep as 2,000 feet. But Earle predicts that by the end of the five-year project, technology will have advanced so that the tiny subs can go as deep as 4,000 feet.
Scientists say it will be cold. And dark. Much of the sea life below 30 feet will be red, pink, or white.
But deeper still, who knows.
Those who man the subs probably will see marine snow--bacterial microorganisms that drift to the bottom just like snow jellyfish and unusual types of snails.
“It is [also] likely we will find new species,” said Francis of the Channel Islands sanctuary.
The maneuverable underwater vehicle will allow people to investigate some of the more than 200 shipwrecks around the Channel Islands since 1853. Most lie undisturbed because they are deeper than any divers could go.
“We’ve located approximately 20,” said Cultural Resources Coordinator Robert Schwemmer. “Which means we have a lot of work ahead of us.”
One of those is the Watson A. West, bound for San Pedro Harbor with $30,000 in cargo when it sank off the western end of San Miguel Island in 1923. It was never found.
More than anything though, scientists hope to shed light on the life beneath the sea.
“The most important thing is the compelling evidence everywhere we go that the seas are alive,” Earle said. “It’s not just rocks and water. This is truly exploratory.”
Francis added: “Most of the way we explore the deep sea is through what we dredge up in trawl nets. It gives us no idea of where these things came from. It is like having a space ship tow through downtown New York, and pulling up cars and parking meters.”
