EMPA Field Grab

The overall goal of the Estuary Marine Protected Area (EMPA) Monitoring Program is to establish a monitoring framework, including data collection, analysis, synthesis, and reporting to determine the health of estuaries in California and the efficacy of MPA designation in estuaries. A key element is the development of a standardized monitoring protocol that can be used not only by the MPA program, but by any program aimed at assessing estuary function, condition, or health to provide data that can be easily compared across systems and between programs. A robust condition assessment framework for estuaries should be able to accommodate the underlying differences in estuarine structure and form, while still allowing comparable intra-estuary comparisons of health and condition. The purpose of this project was to develop a standardized approach to monitor and assess the functions (key species abundance, diversity, structure, function, and integrity) of estuarine ecosystems. As part of the initial phases of the program, we developed standard protocols to assess key estuarine features across different estuaries, coupled with standard data templates and guidance on analysis, synthesis, and reporting, focused on four guiding principles: flexibility, comparability, interpretability, and practicality. We developed 14 SOPs and piloted the framework at 15 estuaries in 2021. Monitoring has continued since 2021 and has expanded to include new SOPs and new sites. For more details on the EMPA program and framework, see https://empa.sccwrp.org.