2002 Sea Grant State Fellow Nick Haring
Former Sea Grant State Fellow Lands Job with Ocean Monitoring Program in San Diego
SAN DIEGO, June 16, 2004–A California Sea Grant State Fellow with the California Coastal Commission in 2002, Nick Haring now works as a marine biologist for the City of San Diego’s Ocean Monitoring Program. The program is charged with documenting the environmental effects of discharging treated sewage off the coast of San Diego.
At his new job, Haring analyzes ecological data used to evaluate the health of benthic (bottom-dwelling) marine organisms in the San Diego region. Changes in these organisms’ abundance, distribution and diversity can indicate changes in water quality and thus can be used to determine whether treatment processes are protecting marine health.
Former California Sea Grant State Fellow Nick Haring is now a marine biologist with the City of San Diego’s Ocean Monitoring Program. Photo: Cat Thompson (left)
“My fellowship prepared me for this job as the work we do has implications for management and policy,” Haring said. “I was glad for the opportunity. The state fellowship also was a strong point on my resume. It really helped me stand out from the other applicants.”
Odor-control systems rise above sedimentation basins at the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant in San Diego. Photo: San Diego Metropolitan Wastewater Public Information Office [right]
The Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant processes about180 million gallons of sewage a day, serving about 2.2 million people. Treated sewage is discharged through a pipe on the seabed. Former Sea Grant State Fellow Nick Haring now studies the effects of discharging treated sewage on ecosystem health. Photo: San Diego Metropolitan Wastewater Public Information Office [below]
[Story (below) on Nick Haring’s experience as a state fellow, excerpted from the California Sea Grant March 2003 newsletter]
State Fellow Nick Haring Completes Atlas of Historical Wetlands
Journey back in time to the year 1800. California is still a territory of Mexico. The motorcar has not been invented; nobody has struck gold and yelled “Eureka!” We’re on horseback, on a dirt road near a small town. Surrounding us is a spongy wetland, crowded with birds—one in a seemingly endless network of rugged marshlands dotting the as yet undeveloped coast.
Traditionally, historians have been the ones to look back in time and ruminate on what was in days past. This, though, has changed as politicians—and society as a whole—have become increasingly interested in global environmental change. Today biologists in a hundred indirect ways are asked to speculate on how the natural world used to be—its polar ice, sea level or fisheries abundance.
In California, wetlands are one of our most vital historical ecosystems, and one of our most endangered. The best guess is that about 90 percent of the state’s wetlands have been dredged, filled or drained in the last century. The remnants support a high proportion of the state’s federally protected endangered species.
Image: NOAA historical archives
California Sea Grant has long supported state and federal mandates to protect wetlands, most recently through our support of State Fellow Nick Haring, a former master’s student in marine ecology at California State University, Northridge. As a state fellow, Haring spent nine months working at the California Coastal Commission, the agency that issues building permits for coastal development and is charged with meeting government mandates to preserve wetlands.
The bulk of his time as a state fellow was spent digitizing a set of hand-drawn maps from the 1800s showing the historical location and extent of various wetland habitats in Northern California. The images were put in a GIS-compatible format and soon will be posted on the California Coastal Commission’s Website for public viewing and use. The maps dovetail nicely with an atlas of historical wetlands in Southern California produced by the California Coastal Conservancy. Together, they will provide the first comprehensive digital atlas of California’s historical wetland areas.
“You can look around and see the need for really good science to direct policy,” Haring said of his project. “I know this project is going to be useful to resource managers, policy makers, scientists and lawmakers.” The maps will help the agency, and anyone interested in how wetlands have changed over the last 100 years, to make informed decisions on what to do with the remaining wetlands and to identify which areas are most suited for restoration.
With his fellowship now over, Haring left for Jamaica in mid-January 2003 to study coral reef die-offs. After that, he hopes to land a career in marine resource management at a government agency.
He hopes to stay in the Golden State.
Eureka!
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