OSU, consultants studying, recording what’s in territorial waters



Folks in Yachats spotted the R/V Pacific Storm plying the offshore waters for several days (and nights) during the second week of August.

Those aboard the 84-foot research vessel from Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute were involved in the start of a two-year effort to create the most detailed maps ever made of the seafloor in Oregon’s territorial waters.

The research ship - a refitted fishing vessel donated to the institute as part of a federal groundfish permit buyback program - also plied the waters off Yaquina Head during the week of July 25, moving within shouting distance of folks onshore, said Chris Goldfinger, an associate professor of oceanic and atmospheric sciences and earthquake geologist at Oregon State University (OSU).

Researchers have discussed creating a complete and accurate map of Oregon’s seafloor for many years, but as Goldfinger observed, “It’s kind of like the weather. Everybody talks about it, but nobody does anything.”

With the weather, folks are at the whims of nature, which they can’t do much about anyway. With seafloor mapping - an expensive venture - researchers are at the whims of available funding.

Goldfinger and his OSU colleagues are working collaboratively with Portland-based consultants David Evans & Associates on the mapping effort.

OSU received a $1.3-million allocation from the 2009 Oregon Legislature - part of the settlement from the cleanup of the oil tanker New Carissa, which wrecked off the southern Oregon coast in 1999 - to fund the work.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) sweetened the pot by awarding $5 million in grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 through its Office of Coast Survey - almost $4 million to David Evans & Associates, and the remainder to Seattle-based Fugro Seafloor Surveys, Inc., which will map the southern Oregon coast.

The combined effort - funded at about $7.3 million - will, among other things, measure water depth, search for navigational hazards, and record the natural features of the territorial seafloor and aquatic life using the latest technology available.



New and improved



Goldfinger said the work would initially focus on sites from Cape Perpetua (near Yachats) northward, including sites vital to tsunami modeling, wave energy, and proposed marine reserves at Cape Falcon (south of Cannon Beach), Cascade Head near Lincoln City, and Cape Perpetua.

Later, they will turn their attention to other sites under evaluation for future marine reserves, including Cape Arago/Seven Devils south of Coos Bay, and rocky reef areas such as Rogue and Blanco reefs.

Goldfinger said they would hire local fishing boats and crews to help with the surveys, giving “a real Oregon flavor to the project.” He anticipates reaching the halfway point by autumn, and finishing up next year.

Goldfinger led a previous effort to create an interim map of Oregon’s territorial sea and seafloor habitats, using scant existing data about water depths and sediment types, and adding overlays with information about geology, habitat, buoys, seabirds, marine life, and kelp beds. Maps are accessible at www.pacoos.coas.oregonstate.edu/MarineHabitatViewer/viewer.aspx.

The new maps will offer more detail at a finer scale, offering a precision scientists and decision-makers can use to manage marine resources, and prepare for earthquakes, tsunamis, and rising sea levels.

“The resolution will be on a scale we’ve never had before,” said Goldfinger. “We’ll be using multi-beam sonar that will give us complete coverage of the ocean floor, and will record ‘backscatter’ data that will tell us how hard the ocean floor is, and whether the bottom is comprised of sand, mud, or gravel.”

A second ship following the survey vessel will use other instruments to verify the surveys by collecting samples and recording measurements, such as dissolved oxygen content. Such measurements can help scientists understand ocean hypoxia - the low oxygen levels that create marine “dead zones” - and harmful algal blooms that cause unsafe domoic acid concentrations in shellfish.

The high-resolution maps will cover about 34 percent of Oregon waters, and 75 percent of the rocky reefs, recording “every bump, depression, reef, and boulder on the seafloor” out to the three-mile boundary of Oregon’s territorial sea.



Wide-ranging benefits



“These projects can help Oregon prepare for future challenges,” said Gov. Ted Kulongoski. “Developing an image of our ocean floor will help us model tsunamis, identify marine habitats, select alternative energy sites, identify geological hazards, and enhance safe and efficient marine transportation.”

In their 2006 West Coast Governor’s Agreement on Ocean Health, Kulongoski, Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire, and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger set a goal for mapping the three states’ oceans by 2020.

“Oregon is on track to reach that goal,” said Kulongoski, noting the strong partnership among universities, private industry, fishermen, coastal legislators, and multiple state and federal agencies to get to this point. Led by Rep. Deborah Boone (D-Cannon Beach), Oregon’s coastal caucus - including Rep. Jean Cowan (D-Newport) - supported the effort, along with the Oregon Department of State Lands and other state agencies.

Boone called it a case of third time lucky, as it marked their third try to pass legislation “to enable Oregon State University ocean scientists to finish the task of mapping the seafloor.”

The maps will provide information vital to developing tsunami inundation zone models, siting marine reserves, defining fisheries habitat and coastal hazards, and updating navigational charts.

NOAA will use the survey data to update nautical charts that currently have depth information acquired prior to 1939. “Officials need the best possible information to manage ocean and coastal resources,” said John H. Dunnigan, assistant administrator for NOAA’s National Ocean Service. “Updated nautical charts will also make ocean shipping and recreational boating along Oregon’s coast much safer.”

Goldfinger said the detailed maps would benefit Oregon fishermen, boaters, and scientists studying rising sea levels, potentially catastrophic earthquakes and tsunamis, wave energy, and other issues. It would help with general marine spatial planning, and predicting coastal erosion.



Terry Dillman is the assistant editor of the News-Times. Contact him at (541) 265-8571, ext 225, or terrydillman@newportnewstimes.com.



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