MBNMS Resource Protection Staff

Deirdre Hall
Permit Coordinator
(831) 647-4207
Deirdre.hall@noaa.gov

Ms. Hall joined the Sanctuary's Resource Protection team in 2000. As the MBNMS Permit Coordinator, Deirdre analyzes policies and coordinates all MBNMS permits. Deirdre also tracks and develops comments on a variety of related resource protection projects and plans, and assists in environmental damage assessments for emergency response. Deirdre has a US Coast Guard Captain license and assists with Sanctuary boat operations.

Deirdre holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Biology from Fairleigh Dickinson University, Madison, NJ. Deirdre's prior experience includes studying human impacts on a rocky intertidal community, working as a Fisheries Observer, and serving as a Marine Science Instructor aboard a research vessel for several years. As part of the Resource Protection team, Deirdre is effusive about having an opportunity to protect a "giant stretch of ocean".I feel like I can influence change on a much larger scale than the species based projects I worked on before. Now I work on broader issues, like wildlife disturbance, water quality issues, coastal armoring, and marine policy.

Scott Kathey
Regulatory/Emergency Response Coordinator
(831) 647-4251
scott.kathey@noaa.gov

Mr. Kathey interprets and develops regulations and amendments; investigates Sanctuary regulatory violations, coastal incidents, and citizen complaints; and coordinates enforcement activities between Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies to protect Sanctuary resources. He also manages Sanctuary boat operations, is a NOAA Working Diver, and serves as the staff lead on emergency response issues including vessel groundings and spills.

Mr. Kathey holds a Master of Marine Affairs degree in Coastal Management from the University of Washington and has worked for the National Marine Sanctuary Program since 1992. He worked for the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary and Proposed Northwest Straits National Marine Sanctuary Programs in Washington State prior to assuming his current position in Monterey. Mr. Kathey has gained additional experience in marine protection and management through work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, the City of Bainbridge Island Shoreline Planning Department, and the School of Marine Affairs, University of Washington.

Bridget Hoover
Water Quality Protection Program Director
(831) 647-4217
bridget.hoover@noaa.gov

In March 2007 Bridget Hoover joined the Resource Protection Team as Director of the Water Quality Protection Program. In this capacity she is responsible for implementation of the six WQPP Action Plans related to monitoring, urban runoff, agriculture, beach closures, marinas, and wetlands. Prior to this position, Bridget was employed by the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Foundation from January 1999 thru March 2007 as Coordinator of the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Citizen Watershed Monitoring Network where she provided water quality expertise to a wide range of school programs, watershed groups and government agencies. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Earth Systems Science and Policy and extensive experience in water quality monitoring. Prior to her position with the Sanctuary, Bridget spent four years working for the Department of Ecology in Bellevue, WA as an Environmental Planner/Spill Response and seven years in the United States Coast Guard.

Anna Holden-Martz
Citizen Watershed Monitoring Network Coordinator
(831) 647-4227
anna.holden@noaa.gov

Anna joined the Sanctuary in May 2007 to coordinate the Sanctuary Citizen Watershed Monitoring Network, providing training, equipment, data management, and data quality control assistance to a coalition of over 15 monitoring groups. She also coordinates several Sanctuary-wide monitoring programs each year, including Snapshot Day, Urban Watch, and First Flush.

Before joining the Sanctuary, Anna lived in Missoula, Montana, where she completed a B.S. in Resource Conservation and an M.S. in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana. Her thesis work was a qualitative analysis of the successful recruitment and retention of volunteers in rural communities and the factors that make volunteer-collected data useful to government agencies. Her work experience includes leading volunteer monitoring programs in the Clearwater National Forest of Idaho and the Anaconda-Pintler and Welcome Creek Wilderness Areas of Montana.

Brad Damitz
Environmental Policy Specialist
(831) 647-4201
brad.damitz@noaa.gov

Brad joined the Sanctuary in 2000. His responsibilities include developing and implementing Sanctuary plans, guidelines, and policies on a variety of regional resource protection issues including desalination, cruise ship discharges, and coastal armoring. He also works on tracking and responding to various water quality and resource protection issues, as well as developing partnership opportunities between the Sanctuary and the recently designated California Coastal National Monument.


Brad received a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Rhode Island, and an M.A. in International Environmental Policy from the Monterey Institute of International Studies, with an emphasis on marine protected area policy. Some of Brad’s other work experience includes teaching marine environmental education in the Florida Keys, and leading kayak tours in the Monterey Bay.

Gary Conley
Water Quality Data Analyst
(831) 420-3663
gary.conley@noaa.gov

As a Water Quality Data Analyst, Gary is conducting an assessment of water quality conditions in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and its watersheds. He coordinates with other monitoring organizations on the Central Coast to compile and analyze data sets and addresses questions about non-point-source pollution. This work will improve our understanding of how pollutant levels change over time, how land-use activities are related to water quality variables, and the effectiveness of water quality management measures.

Gary earned a B.S. in Earth Sciences from UC Santa Cruz and a M.S. in Geography from San Diego State University (SDSU). Prior to arriving at the Sanctuary, he worked as a Research Associate on a NASA funded grant that investigated relationships between southern California wildfires and watershed hydrology. Gary has taught undergraduate classes in the areas of Geology and Physical Geography. His scientific research has focused on fluvial geomorphology, numerical modeling of hydrologic systems, spatial analysis, and quantifying land cover changes using satellite observations.

Lisa Lurie
Agriculture Water Quality Coordinator
(831) 647-4219
lisa.lurie@noaa.gov

Lisa Lurie is the Agriculture Water Quality Coordinator at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. She coordinates and tracks implementation of the Sanctuary's Agriculture and Rural Lands Plan. The plan is a collaborative effort with agencies and the agricultural community to reduce polluted runoff through voluntary strategies. This involves working with a variety of partners on outreach, technical training, monitoring, and management practices addressing over 3000 square miles of agricultural and rural lands which drain into the Sanctuary.


Lisa has a Master's degree in Environmental Management from Duke University with an emphasis on community-based watershed management. She also holds B.S. and B.A. degrees in Biology and Environmental Studies from the University of Washington. Prior to joining the Sanctuary in 2007, Lisa assessed conservation practice implementation on agricultural lands in coastal North Carolina for the non-profit Environmental Defense. Lisa's experience also includes work with an Ecuadorian conservation commission on projects related to protected areas management, sustainable agriculture, community forestry, and environmental education.

Carolyn Skinder
Water Quality Specialist
(831) 647-4237
carolyn.skinder@noaa.gov

Ms. Skinder is contracted to coordinate the CA Non-Point Source Citizen Monitoring Program. In addition to supporting our citizen water quality groups state-wide, the goals of this project are to help the Non-Point Source Program and other state and regional programs use citizen data more effectively, to use citizen data to fill in data gaps and create a more robust set of water quality information for California, and lastly, to use this data to set state policy, evaluate program success and assess both status and trends.


Ms. Skinder joined the Sanctuary in 2005 and has worked on a variety of projects with the Education Team as well as on the Resource Protection Team. In addition to obtaining a Masters degree in Science Education from the University of Massachusetts, she also holds a Masters degree in Marine Science and Policy from the University of Maine. Prior to joining the Sanctuary, she worked closely with Maine's fisheries while studying benthic marine invertebrate communities as they related to the development of marine protected areas in the Gulf of Maine. Ms. Skinder also has several years experience teaching marine and biological sciences.