Sanctuary Integrated Monitoring Network SIMoN

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS) is the nation’s largest marine sanctuary, located offshore of California’s central coast. It encompasses nearly 300 miles of shoreline, 5,322 square miles of ocean, and reaches depths of nearly two miles. This region was designated with special protected status because of its enormous aesthetic, ecological, and economical value.

Long-term ecosystem monitoring is a fundamental element of conservation and a requirement of the site’s management plan. By integrating ongoing efforts at over 30 regional marine research institutions, and filling in critical gaps, the MBNMS can gain a comprehensive understanding of its resources and processes. The Sanctuary Integrated Monitoring Network (SIMoN) has therefore been designed in partnership with the regional science and management communities to identify and track natural and human induced changes to the Sanctuary.

The specific goals of SIMoN are to:

• Integrate existing monitoring conducted in the MBNMS
  
  
• Initiate basic surveys or characterizations of all habitats and regions of the MBNMS
  
  
• Establish a series of long-term monitoring efforts to fill in critical gaps
  
  
• Initiate specific, question-driven monitoring efforts with fixed durations
  
  
• Provide timely and pertinent information to managers and decision makers, the research community, and the general public

SIMoN is an integrated, long-term program that takes an ecosystem approach to identify and understand changes to a large marine protected area. It will provide resource managers with the information needed for effective decision making and make possible an unparalleled basic understanding of a complex and important marine environment. SIMoN will facilitate the critical but often overlooked communication between researchers, resource managers, educators, and the public. Finally, NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary Program will use SIMoN as a model monitoring program for other marine sanctuaries nationwide.

For more information on SIMoN:

SIMoN Report

Environmental contaminants RFP 02-01

Ecosystem Monitoring Plan and Workshop

A PDF version of this file is available here.

Andrew DeVogelaere
Research Coordinator/Senior Scientist
(831) 647-4213
andrew.devogelaere@noaa.gov