CCLEAN
Central Coast Long-term Environmental Assessment Network
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P
rogram Design

A collaborative, science-based process

 Through opinion surveys, CCLEAN stakeholders prioritized four beneficial uses of nearshore waters for protection:

  • Marine habitat,
  • Rare, threatened, or endangered species,
  • Water contact recreation, and
  • Wildlife habitat. 

Discussions with stakeholders and reviews of reports and scientific publications indicated that there are several possible impairments of these beneficial uses:

  • Elevated concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (POPs; e.g., petroleum hydrocarbons, pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls) in fish from the Monterey Submarine Canyon and sea otters, compared to other locations,
  • Declines or lack of growth in the sea otter population,
  • Diseases in sea otters that might be related to high concentrations of POPs,
  • Bird and mammal deaths due to blooms of toxic phytoplankton, and
  • Beach closures due to high bacterial concentrations.

 
We found that these possible impairments of beneficial uses may be related to four water quality stressors:

  • POPs in water and sediment,
  • Nutrients,
  • Pathogens, and
  • Suspended sediments in rivers.

CCLEAN is measuring inputs of these water quality stressors and their effects in nearshore waters by sampling:

  • Effluent for each municipal discharger and four major rivers for POPs, nutrients, and suspended sediments using automated equipment to obtain 30-day flow-proportioned samples in the dry season and in the wet season,
  • Sixteen streams, rivers and other coastal sites for nutrients, bacteria, and suspended sediments monthly,
  • Satellite imagery will be used to evaluate blooms of phytoplankton associated with discharges of high concentrations of nutrients,
  • Mussels to measure POPs and bacteria at five locations in the dry season and in the wet season,
  • Sediment and benthic organisms for POPs at eight sites once a year within the depositional band that has been identified by U.S. Geological Survey along the 80-meter contour in Monterey Bay,
  • Nearshore water at two locations in Monterey Bay for concentrations of POPs, nutrients and bacteria in the dry season and in the wet season,
  • Tissues of sea otters that have died and been necropsied by the California Department of Fish and Game Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care and Research Center to measure POP concentrations and determine whether POPs have affected the cause of death.

A detailed  description of how the CCLEAN program was designed is available on the Documents page.