Group finds some bay fish making comeback
by Harry Munns
Dr. Dan Pondella and his Vantuna Research Group are instrumental in the work of the Marina Life Protection Act Initiative (MLPAI), which is moving toward proposing restrictions on fishing and other coastal activities. Pondella was a member of the Science Advisory Team for the south coast region.
VRG and Santa Monica Baykeeper have been assessing and restoring the near-shore resources of Santa Monica Bay for four decades. This study is intended to provide critical pre-reserve, subtidal data necessary for the establishment and monitoring of possible future Marine Protected Areas in coastal southern California.
No one seems to be satisfied with the direction the MLPAI is headed, including Pondella. “From a scientific perspective, you optimally want a reserve system that is going to work well. The current proposals fall well short of such an objective and the science has demonstrated this. Basically, they are too small to make a significant difference.” Pondella said. The MLPA would protect specific habitat areas to enable successful breeding and development of juvenile fish.
Pondella’s research has uncovered some significant re-population of species that had previously suffered serious depletion. “The most important trends for fishes that I have published on is the return of giant sea bass to Rocky Point and the return of the white sea bass commercial and recreational fisheries. Associated with these are also the increase in leopard sharks and soupfins to Southern California.” Pondella said.
The return of these species was accomplished without restricting any recreational uses of any waters. “All of these recoveries were due to the removal of gill nets from state waters. Gill nets are not a selective fishery technique and wind up killing many fishes, birds, marine mammals and turtles that they are not targeting.” Pondella said.
Fish populations ebb and flow just like the tides in which they make their homes. “The numbers of calico bass at Rocky Point and King Harbor has declined 95 percent over the past 20 years,” Pondella said.
He may have motives other than pure science for his interest in calico bass. “I prefer to fish for calicos, so I’m hoping the fishing will get better in the future,” he said.
The Cousteau Society and Bob Ballard might be the most well-known ocean researchers, but lots of other scientists count fish and take samples of life below the ocean’s surface. In this part of the world, USC stands out as perhaps the most visible organization conducting ocean research, possibly because of its massive and largely secret facility on Catalina Island.
Dr. Dan Pondella is another significant contributor to our understanding of the ocean. His Vantuna Research Group (VRG) operates out of Occidental College.
The Vantuna Research Group has been monitoring and researching the marine environment of Southern and Baja California since 1966. The VRG is dedicated to studying long-term and large spatial scale processes in the Southern California Bight. The research program features both the longest continual time series studies of rocky reefs in the world and the largest spatial scale studies of reefs in the bight.
It isn’t unusual to see the Vantuna boat or boats going into or out of the water at the King Harbor Marina hoist. They even conduct some of their research inside the marina.
“We do some of our research in King Harbor for a variety of reasons. It’s the clearest marina I’ve ever seen, so it affords excellent scuba diving conditions almost every day. One of the two long-term sites (the other is Rocky Point) that we have been monitoring since 1974 is King Harbor. These are the longest continually studied rocky reefs in the world, which gives us some unique insights into how fish populations change over time.” Pondella said.
One of VRG’s projects studies ichthyoplankton, the eggs and larvae of fish found mainly in the upper 200 meters of the water column, also called the near-surface waters. Day and night bottom, mid-water, and surface samples have been taken on a monthly basis throughout King Harbor since 1974.
Dr. Pondella gives Santa Monica Bay high marks for water quality. “There have been huge efforts over the last few decades to clean up the bay and we are seeing the positive impacts of those efforts,” he said.
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