There is in the region a broad public perception of environmental degradation. This is set against a backdrop of extraordinary complex natural ecosystem processes that are not fully understood, extensive public and private efforts to protect and restore environmental systems, and great public concern for the environment.
Environmental management efforts have included numbers marine environmental monitoring programs. These efforts have been both extensive (for example, the long-term time-series resource assessments of the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigation [CalCOFI]) and elaborately detailed, such as the monitoring programs for municipal waste water and electric power plants. The total amount of money and effort expended by public utilities, private industry, and government agencies in marine monitoring efforts in Southern California is conservatively estimated at well over $17 million annually.
As part of a larger assessment of marine environmental monitoring the National Research Council analyzed the effectiveness of marine environmental monitoring in the Southern California Bight. The study committee found an extensive system of monitoring of environmental conditions in the bight, but also widespread concern that the system is not efficient and that its products are not sufficiently used for decision making.
The committee found that because monitoring in the bight is predominantly organized around discharge permits responding to water quality regulations, there is a fragmented approach to assessing environmental quality. There are deficiencies in monitoring for public health concerns and nonpoint discharges. Also, there are no existing formal mechanisms for integrating the wide array of monitoring activities and their findings; as a result, it is difficult--if not impossible--to present a coherent picture of the state of the bight as a whole. There is a glaring need for a regionwide monitoring system and for effectively reporting findings to the public, the scientific community, and policy makers.
In response to these findings, the committee recommends that a regional monitoring program be established that would address public health impacts, natural resources and nearshore habitat trends, nonpoint source and riverine contamination, and cumulative or areawide impacts from all contaminant sources.
A regional program should involve participation by the public and scientific communities at local, state, and federal levels and should include built-in mechanisms to communicate its conclusions to regulatory agencies and the public, the committee noted. It should also include review mechanisms and allow easy alteration or redirection of monitoring efforts, whenever justified by monitoring results or other information. Anticipated benefits from a regional program would include:
greater cost efficiency through use of standardized sampling, analysis, data management, and coordination of effort,
ability to address specific questionsabout environmental conditions and resources and to alter or redirect monitoring efforts as needed; and
more effective use of monitoring informationin decision making by ensuring better communication with and involvement by the public and scientific community.
Implementing a regional program will require coordination among local, state, and federal agencies and the integration of their regulatory, data, and management needs. Only through an integrated systemwide approach can important environmental and human health objectives identified by society be successfully attained: ensuring that it is safe to swim in the ocean and eat local seafood, providing adequate protection for fisheries and other living resources, and safeguarding the health of the ecosystem.
( Order the book "Monitoring Southern California's Coastal Waters" from the National Research Council).