HB5202: Science and monitoring on nearshore keystone species including sea otters, nearshore marine ecosystems, kelp and eelgrass habitat and sequestration of blue carbon

Research Team:

• Scott Marion (PI), Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Marine Resources Program

Project Objectives: This project will collect high-resolution seafloor mapping data for key nearshore

rocky habitats in the vicinity of the Rogue River Reef off Gold Beach, OR. This complex shallow reef system, which supports the largest remaining kelp beds in Oregon, the largest and most robust com

mercial sea urchin harvest, the largest Stellar sea lion rookery, and a high-potential sea otter reintroduction site, is also the last significant gap in an otherwise near-comprehensive catalog of the state’s important rocky reef habitats. The data generated will consist of a high-resolution bathymetry raster (i.e. depth data at 1-4 m2 resolution depending on depth) and a backscatter mosaic (i.e. an image of bottom reflectivity that enhances interpretation and quantification of rocky seafloor structures). The project will fill a major gap in the understanding of Oregon’s nearshore ecosystems and provide a critical, permanent foundation for a broad range of other studies, analyses, and monitoring efforts that require basic data on the abundance and distribution of rocky seafloor habitats. A decades-long initiative to gather basic physical data mapping the seafloor structure in and around the state’s nearshore rocky ecosystems left this last site unmapped, largely as a consequence of its distance from major ports, challenging shallow navigation, large size, and prevalence of high winds.

Project Timeline: March 2023 to June2025

Project Award: $181,000

To access the Rogue Reef project products on ODFW’s Data Clearinghouse, click here.

HB5202: Science and monitoring on nearshore keystone species including sea otters, nearshore marine ecosystems, kelp and eelgrass habitat and sequestration of blue carbon

Research Team:

• Steve Rumrill (PI), Shellfish Program Leader, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Marine Resources Program Scott Groth (PI), South Coast Shellfish Biologist, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

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Project Partners:

• Oregon Commercial Sea Urchin Harvesters

• Oregon Science Divers: University of Oregon, Oregon Coast Aquarium, US Forest Service, Oregon ReefCheck

• Coastal Conservation: Oregon Kelp Alliance, Elakha Alliance

Project Objectives:

​This project will address how the ecological characteristics of rocky reef habitats differ between areas that have experienced loss of kelp versus areas where kelp beds persist by filling critical data gaps regarding recent shifts in kelp beds and rocky reef habitats located at strategic conservation sites along the southern Oregon coast. The project will:

• Conduct new underwater surveys at sites where bull kelp beds have decreased in spatial extent and ecological communities recently transitioned into urchin barrens;

• Conduct new underwater surveys at sites where bull kelp beds persist and ecological communities are presumed to still function in a relatively typical manner; and

• Conduct outreach activities to share new datasets, disseminate information, and raise awareness among project participants, resource managers, and coastal stakeholders about the ecological impacts associated with recent shifts in kelp beds and rocky reef habitats along the southern Oregon coast.

​Project Timeline: March 2023 to December 2025

​ Project Award: $193,341

Project Final Report: Kelp Communities in Transition Along the Oregon Coast

Executive Summary:

Climate Impacts on Nearshore Ecosystems: Prolonged marine heatwaves (2014–2017) and subsequent El Niño conditions caused major disruptions to Oregon’s rocky reef ecosystems, including kelp loss, abalone decline, sea star collapse, and persistent high densities of purple sea

urchins.

ODFW Long-Term Monitoring & New Methods: Leveraging decades of datasets for sea urchins and abalones, ODFW tested new video-based survey techniques and collaborated with commercial and scientific divers to improve species detection and size measurement while maintaining

continuity with historical methods.

Key Findings: Abalone populations remain critically low; sea urchin densities are high with no

recent recruitment pulses; and sea star populations show significant shifts post-SSWS outbreak. Video methods were less efficient for size data but useful for species enumeration.

Management & Conservation Actions: Recommendations include adopting advanced technologies for monitoring, expanding conservation measures for abalones and sea stars, and considering

strategies of reducing grazing pressure to restore kelp habitats. Updated datasets and new partnerships will inform future research and policy.

Subtidal belt transect sites and kelp canopy (2024 study and maximum extents (from historical) for OOST grant at Oregon nearshore sites, 2024-2025.

ODFW staff worked with commercial sea urchin divers (top photo taken at Redfish Rocks Marine Reserve) and scientific divers (bottom photo taken at Depoe Bay) to measure abundance of species.

Illustration of methodology for subtidal belt transects.

Underwater photograph of a diver following a transect tape on a rocky reef with sea urchins and rockfish.

Commercial sea urchin divers collecting sea urchins.

ODFW staff measuring sea urchins collected by sea urchin divers.

Histogram of densities for purple and red sea urchin (#/m2) at project areas in Oregon, 1991-2025.

Three species of seastars increased after the 2014 Sea Star Wasting Disease of 2014 event (top photo: Leather star (Dermasterias imbricata); middle photo: Blood star (Henricia leviuscula), and bottom photo: Bat star (Patiria miniata).

Three species of seastars decreased after the 2014 Sea Star Wasting Disease of 2014 event (top photo: Morning sun star (Solaster dawsoni), eating a blood star; middle photo: Striped sun star (Solaster stimpsoni); bottom photo: Sunflower star (Pycnopodia helianthoides).

HB5202: Science and monitoring on nearshore keystone species including sea otters, nearshore marine ecosystems, kelp and eelgrass habitat and sequestration of blue carbon

Research Team:

• Kirsten Grorud-Colvert (PI), Oregon State University

• Su Sponaugle (PI), Oregon State University

Project Partners:

• Lindsay Aylesworth, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Marine Reserves Program

• Jim Burke, Oregon Coast Aquarium

• Alison Whitman, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Marine Resources Program

​ Trainee: Cameron Royer, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Integrative Biology, OSU

Project Objectives:

This research:

• Characterized the relative importance of the nearshore habitat for recruiting fishes;

• Genetically identified key commercially and recreationally important species in an existing 10-year sample series to provide species-specific recruitment indices and length data useful for three upcoming stock assessments;

• Expanded settlement time series using a collector designed to mimic kelp;

• Evaluated whether marine reserves serve as refuges for these fishes.

​Project Timeline: March 2022 to December 2025

Project Award: $169,815

Final Report

Project Storymap: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/5febe7fa679846e5acab42eaae0cc0ec

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Oregon’s nearshore is home to productive and iconic marine habitats such as kelp forests, which harbor commercially and culturally important fishes during their most vulnerable life stages. The association between groundfish such as rockfishes and kelp are well-known in other regions, but research and evidence on this association in Oregon, particularly in Oregon’s coastal marine reserves, was largely unexplored until our long-term time series tracking juvenile fish recruitment began in 2011. With funding from OOST, we continued this time series over the last three years. We utilized the funding to better understand the impacts of marine heat waves, identify the importance of Oregon’s marine reserves for protecting essential juvenile fish habitat, and improve stock assessment models for two rockfish species. Our work demonstrates the value of investing in long-term nearshore research to better understand our changing ocean and the benefits of evidence-based management measures for preserving iconic species and places along Oregon’s coast. As a result of our efforts, we found:

• Heat waves are affecting Oregon’s ocean in surprising ways. With increasing frequency and intensity of marine heat waves, predicting how these will impact nearshore populations of marine fishes and other organisms is crucial. Our work shows that during the span of this project, two heat waves impacted juvenile rockfish species, both by increasing larval and juvenile growth but also by affecting how many juveniles survive to settlement.

• Oregon’s marine reserves conserve important habitat. The state of Oregon has invested in conserving marine ecosystems and species in five marine reserves and associated marine protected areas (MPAs). Our data show that at least two of these marine reserves, which we have studied for more than a decade, protect habitat that juvenile rockfishes and other groundfish are using as a refuge during their early life.

• Long-term time series provide critical information. Repeated sampling efforts using the same methodology and targeting the same habitats and species for sustained periods of time are costly in terms of both funding and people power. Yet continuing this long-term research has provided some of the best information about the health of nearshore ecosystems. Our efforts show the value of supporting the collection of time series data for understanding Oregon’s coastal resources.

• Partnerships in coastal marine research are key. Collaborative research strengthens scientific findings when it incorporates partners with different knowledge about marine ecosystems. This OOST-funded work brought together university scientists, agency research specialists and field crews, aquarium educational experts, boat captains and fishermen with daily firsthand knowledge of Oregon’s coastal waters, and community members working to increase public awareness and participation in marine reserves.

SMURF (Standard Monitoring Unit for the Recruitment of Fishes) deployment and retrieval.

Illustration of SMURF mooring deployment design.

Pelagic juvenile fishes collected in the SMURFs and preserved in 90% ethanol.

Some of the many volunteers who help with SMURFing.

Map of (A) central coast collection sites. The Otter Rock Marine Reserve is shown in green, and the Cape Foulweather Comparison Area in blue, and (B) southern coast sites. The Redfish Rocks Marine Reserve is shown in green, and the Humbug Mountain Comparison Area in blue. Black points indicate SMURF mooring locations. Shown in gray are 10-m bathymetric contours that run parallel to the coastline.

Seasonal patterns in settlement rates (fish SMURF⁻¹ day⁻¹) for nine nearshore fish species (gopher, black-and-yellow, quillback, china, copper, yellowtail, black, tiger rockfishes, and cabezon) across the settlement season (May–September). Lines are smoothed daily mean settlement rates for each year (2012–2023), with shaded bands indicating ± SE. Species are shown in separate panels, and colors correspond to year. Adult images used to represent collected juveniles.

Composition of common juvenile fish species caught in SMURFs from the entire period 2012-2023. Segments show the proportional catch by species as percent of total juveniles collected. Adult images used to represent collected juveniles.

HB5202: Science and monitoring on nearshore keystone species including sea otters, nearshore marine ecosystems, kelp and eelgrass habitat and sequestration of blue carbon

Research Team:

• Bruce Menge (PI), Department of Integrative Biology, Oregon State University

• Heather Fulton-Bennett, LIttle Port Walter Research Station, NOAA Auke Bay Laboratories, Juneau, Alaska

• Sara Gravem, Department of Integrative Biology, Oregon State University

• Zechariah Meunier, Department of Integrative Biology, Oregon State University

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Project Objectives:

• Quantify the abundance and reproductive status of the low intertidal zone kelps (Hedophyllum sessile, Egregia menziesii, Postelsia palmaeformis, Lessoniopsis littoralis, Laminaria setchellii, Laminaria sinclairii, and Alaria marginata). Past research and observations have indicated that several of these species are highly susceptible to the warmer temperatures occurring during El Nino and MHW event, suggesting climate warming may lead to chronic or sudden changes in abundance and reproduction.

• Quantify annual losses of low zone macrophytes and changes in species composition.

• Continue longer-term experiment aimed at testing resilience and recovery of macrophyte communities.

​Project Timeline: March 2023 to March 2025

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Project Award: $190,422

HB5202: Science and monitoring on nearshore keystone species including sea otters, nearshore marine ecosystems, kelp and eelgrass habitat and sequestration of blue carbon

Research Team:

• Will White (PI), Oregon State University, Coastal Oregon Marine Experiment Station

• Mark Novak (PI), Department of Integrative Biology, Oregon State University

• Leif Rasmuson (PI), Marine Resources Program, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
  

Project Objectives:​

​This project will develop a multi-species model of kelp-forest community dynamics to forecast the consequences of alternative management activities in several focal regions of Oregon's coast. The work will build on recent efforts to characterize and model nearshore community dynamics, including:

• How kelp forests will respond to urchin culling;

• How kelp restoration would affect urchin and abalone populations;

• How otter reintroduction will affect urchin, kelp, and crab populations;

• How the regional oceanographic differences can lead to different outcomes for kelp forests and could serve as indications of the potential for restoration success.

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Project Partners:

Research will be integrated with key interest groups in Oregon - Dungeness Crab Commission, Oregon Kelp Alliance, and southern Oregon urchin fishers - to provide input during model development.

​Project Timeline: March 2023 to February 2025

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Project Award: $150,000

HB5202: Science and monitoring on nearshore keystone species including sea otters, nearshore marine ecosystems, kelp and eelgrass habitat and sequestration of blue carbon

Research Team:

• Deanna Caracciolo, Sea & Shore Solutions

• Adrian Laufer, Sea & Shore Solutions
  

Project Objectives:

​This project will conduct a needs assessment to identify the most scientifically sound and effective approach for enhancing data access, storage, dissemination, and archival for Oregon nearshore ocean data. The project will:

• Design an online survey and request OCOIN review.

• Distribute the survey to ocean managers, planners, industry, communities, Tribes, and others.

• Research existing coastal/ocean research data hubs.

• Synthesize findings into an assessment.

​Project Timeline: March 2023 to May 2023

Project Award: $10,000

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FINAL REPORT