The Pacific Outer Continental Shelf Region (POCS) Environmental Studies Program (ESP) started in 1973 and has cumulatively funded 189 studies at a value of almost $124 million. The ESP has pioneered research in the ocean along the entire Pacific Coast of the Continental United States. In many cases the results of the ESP represent the only research ever conducted in the ocean along the coast. The highlights and major accomplishments of the ESP are briefly described by topical area below.

Physical Oceanography - $34,983,000

• MMS has conducted the majority of major physical oceanography field programs conducted along the Pacific Coast.

• MMS funds have allowed Scripps to complete a database of virtually all physical oceanography programs along the Pacific Coast of the US. – The Scripps Data Zoo is an online searchable database available to anyone. The Center for Coastal Studies also maintains a data zoo, a large collection of west coast physical oceanographic data collected by scientists from Scripps and other organizations as part of the MMS program of physical oceanographic studies which began in 1981.

• The MMS –Scripps research program in the Santa Barbara Channel – Santa Maria Basin is nationally recognized as the state of the art program in physical oceanography in the world.

• The MMS physical oceanography research has improved oil spill models and is the supporting research for larval transport such as being done by the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Study of the Coastal Ocean (PISCO).

• MMS expanded the NOAA meteorological data weather buoys in the 1980s into a Pacific Coast system monitoring winds, waves, and ocean currents. NWS now operates the system with NOAA funds.

• MMS and USGS are performing much of the state of the art ocean bottom mapping using sides can sonar. The State of California Ocean Protection Council has recently voted to funds similar such mapping.

• Establishment of a West Coast OCS Meteorological Buoy Monitoring Network

• CA Shelf Physical Oceanography Circulation Model

• CC Nearshore Currents

• Santa Barbara Channel Circulation Model and Field Study

• CC Coastal Circulation Study

• NC Coastal Circulation Study

• Modeling Circulation in the Southern California Bight

• Coastal Wave Statistical Database

• Coastal Circulation off OR & WA

• Statistical Characteristics of Winds and Currents

• Santa Barbara Channel-Santa Maria Basin Circulation Study, Phase I

• Analysis of Phys Oceanography Data Santa Monica Bay

• SBC-SMB -Modeling - Phys Oceanography – Biological Study Support

• High Resolution Multibeam Seafloor Mapping

Atmospheric Sciences - $5,055,000

• MMS was the pioneering agency (Federal or State) in research to characterize and model the air quality impacts from offshore oil and gas activity.

• MMS research is the basis for improving air quality models is use today by all coastal counties and California Air Quality Boards along the coast.

• SC Bight Air Quality Modeling

• Offshore Meteorological Tracer Measurements

• SC Air Quality Model Validation Study

• SC Air Quality Trajectory Model Study

• Offshore Meteorological & Tracer Measurements in Central California Coastal Waters

• CC Air Quality Model Validation Study

• Photochemical Model Evaluation

• Fugitive Hydrocarbon Emissions from Pacific OCS Facilities

Fates and Effects - $2,347,000

• MMS funded both laboratory experiments on the effects of oil on fish and invertebrates as well as supporting field research in actual tanker spills in California and Washington.

• CA Commercial/Sports Fish Oil Toxicity Study

• Adaptation of Marine Organisms to Hydrocarbon Exposure

• Oiling in the Rocky Intertidal Zone of Washington

• Monitoring Olympic National Park Beach to Determine Fate and Effects of Spill

• Effects of OCS Oil & Gas Production Platforms on Rocky Reef Fishes & Fisheries

Biology - $25,677,000 + $13,158,000 (BLM Baseline Studies) = $38,835,000

• MMS has been the only Federal or state agency to fund collections of organisms along the entire coast of California.

• The BLM-MMS baseline studies in the mid and late 1970s are classics and are the only data available for ocean bottom communities for most of the Southern California region.

• Sites sampled by MMS researchers along the central and northern coast of California have never been sampled subsequently.

• MMS has most recently focused research efforts on understanding the critical role that oil and gas platforms play in supporting populations of some of the most endangered species of California commercial fish.

• MMS has funded the preparation of major texts in marine ecology, fish biology, and marine invertebrate taxonomy that are used in academia and ocean experts.

• Assessment of Long-Term Changes in Santa Maria Basin & West. SB Channel

• Succession and Seasonal Variation of Intertidal Communities

• CA OCS Fisheries Database

• Monitoring:  Assessment of Long-Term Changes in Biol. Communities, Phase II

• Ecology of the SC Bight

• Biol. Reconnaissance of Selected Benthic Habitats of Three Planning Areas

• Evaluation of Spawning and Recruitment Patterns of Fishes off NC, OR & WA

• Fish Assemblages of Rocky Banks of Pacific Northwest

• WA, OR, CA OCS Fisheries Database

• Taxonomic Atlas of the Santa Maria Basin Fauna

• Monitoring: Assessment of Long-Term Changes in Biological Communities, Phase III

• An Updated Inventory of Biol. Resources of Southern Ca.: SB Channel

• Ecological Role of Natural Reefs and Platforms on Rocky Reef Fishes

• Guide to Rockfishes of the Northwest Pacific

• Shoreline Assessment/Marine

Protected Species - $12,379,000

• MMS pioneered the survey of marine mammals and seabirds with surveys of the entire California Coast in the late 1970s. These surveys were expanded into Oregon and Washington in the early 1980s.

• MMS marine mammal and seabird surveys are unique long term time series of observations that are the basis for the recent biogeography analysis of the NOAA Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (and Monterey Sanctuary).

• MMS funded the pioneering efforts to study California Sea Otters and to design methods to treat and rehabilitate oiled otters.

• MMS has funded major databases, seabird colony catalogs, training videos and other information sources used by resource agencies at the Federal and state level.

• MMS is currently working with USGS to bring the marine mammal and seabird database to the Internet for public access.

• SC Marine Mammal and Seabird Survey, Year 1

• Seabird Nesting and Seasonal Use Survey for the C & NC Coastal Region

• C & NC Marine Mammal and Seabird Study, Years 1-3

• CA Seabird Oil Spill Behavior Study

• Seabird Oil Toxicity

• SC Marine Mammal & Seabird Risk Analysis

• Observation of Sea Otter Behavior

• Population Status of CA Sea Otter

• Sea Otter Oil Spill Mitigation Study

• CA Seabird Ecology Study

• Sea Otter Oil Spill Avoidance

• Gray Whale Monitoring Study

• Diving Patterns of Free Swimming Elephant Seals

• OR & WA Marine Mammal and Seabird Surveys

• Biological Impacts of Translocated Sea Otters

• Seabird Nesting Survey for C&N CA and Prep of a Catalog of Seabird Colonies

• Publication of the National Atlas of Coastal Water bird Colonies and WA Seabird Catalog

• Marbled Murrieta in California

• Diving Studies of Northern Elephant Seals

• Production of Sea Otter Rescue Training Videos

• Brown Pelican Survey & Breeding Success Following Oil Exposure in the American Trader Spill

• Pacific OCS Marine Mammal and Seabird Database

• Shorebirds of the Santa Maria Basin

Social Sciences and Economics - $5,513,000

• MMS funded the creation of a unique database of archaeological and culturally significant marine sites used by other Federal agencies and the State of California Historic Preservation Office.

• MMS has funded the only studies of the growth of the oil and gas industries and the sociological connections in the Recount region (Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo).

• MMS has funded studies about the major factors that affect coastal recreation and tourism.

• MMS has funded the potential effects of offshore oil and gas activities on Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest.

• Santa Barbara Channel Prehistoric Mapping Study

• CA Coastal Recreational and Aesthetics Study

• Cumulative Socioeconomic Impacts of O&G Development in SB Channel Region: A Case Study

• Dev. Baseline Data for Socioeconomic Modeling in Santa Barbara Co and SLO Co

• Impacts of OCS Development on Recreation and Tourism

• Archaeological Resource Study: Morro Bay to Mexican Border

• Baseline Socioeconomic. Profile of CA, OR & WA

• CA, OR, WA Archaeological Resources

• Invent and Evaluation of WA & OR Coastal Recreation Resources

• Potential Effects of OCS Oil & Gas Activities on OR & WA Indian Tribes

• Social and Econ. Adapt by Fish harvest in the SBC-SMB area, Calif.

• Social, Econ. & Historic Char. of SLO, SB and Ventura Counties

• The Petroleum Extraction Industry in Ventura, SB, and SLO

• Data Analysis and Synthesis of Tri-County Monitoring Program

• Coastal Beach Recreation and Tourism Valuation

Southern California Educational Initiative and Coastal Marine Institute – University of California Santa Barbara - $12,655,000

• A diverse array of applied and basic research has been accomplished through this innovative funding mechanism that began in 1989 and will be completed in 2007.

Present and Future ESP Emphasis

• The ESP is presently emphasizing long term monitoring through MINT and MARINe.

• The ESP is presently emphasizing research on the role of oil and gas platforms in the ecology of endangered fish in Southern California.

• The ESP anticipates future research into the potential environmental of ocean based renewable energy projects along the Pacific coast.