CalOceans News

A Census for Sea Life

For all the armies of scientists and thousands of hours spent researching the sea, it’s amazing how little we still know about it. For example, we still don’t know exactly how this Californian water worm glues things together underwater (although the Navy sure would like to figure it out!).

Fortunately, there’s a global Census of Marine Life being conducted right now, and the decade-long project is set to be completed and the findings released in October. The census has involved more than 2,000 scientists from more than 80 nations, who thus far have discovered more than 5,000 new forms of marine life. Researchers think there may be several times that many yet to be found.

The ocean, it seems, is like the rainforest: the more we learn, the more we realize how little we actually understand!  But as research progresses, we learn more about what makes our oceans work, and this understanding allows us to make better decisions about how to manage our aquatic natural resources.

Here in California, scientists are embarking on the most comprehensive study of coastal ecosystems ever as part of the science follow-up to the Marine Life Protection Act.  They are in the water now gathering basline data on kelp, fish, and other sea life, and will be collecting information both inside of and around northern California's new marine protected areas to track their progress. 

• Tags:
• marine life census
• marine protected area monitoring
• monitoring enterprise
• Marine Life Protection Act