Shark Stewards and the Golden Gate Marine Protected Area Collaborative are monitoring our coastal marine protected areas under our vessel based MPA watch program. On Sunday September 8, we took 15 students from the Masters of Science in Environmental Management Program at the University of San Francisco out onto the Gulf collecting samples, observing and collecting video (example below) with the Trident ROV at Southeast Farallon Island.
From the MSEM Newsletter:
The California Ecosystems class took their first field trip to the Farallon Islands, and were featured in National Graphic Open Explorer blog! David McGuire works with National Geographic Open Explorer and Open ROV Trident Underwater Drone organization to film our expeditions underwater. They donated this Underwater Drone to use with classes and for citizen science. Please check out his blog post on Nat Geo Open Explorer and the underwater video that our students help take with the ROV at Fisherman’s cove in the SE Farallon Islands.
These excursions collect physical data including and observations on wildlife and human behavior in the marine protected areas and Sanctuary. We also lead a few public trips focusing on marine education and shark conservation. More information on our wildlife trips can be found at SharkStewards.org.