Who: California MLPA Initiative
What: Workshop on oceanography, larval dispersal and connectivity in southern California (see draft workshop agenda below)
When: Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Where: Embassy Suites in El Segundo, CA

California Marine Life Protection Act Initiative
Oceanography Workshop Draft Agenda
(revised September 9, 2008)
September 16, 2008
9:00 a.m. to approximately 5:00 p.m.
Embassy Suites
1440 E. Imperial
El Segundo, CA 90245
(310) 640-3600

Members of the public are invited to attend and observe the meeting in person. This draft agenda is available on the MLPA website at www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/meetings_sc.asp.

Public participation: The public will be invited to offer general comments at approximately 1:00 p.m. Note that the general comment period is for public comment specific to the oceanography of the MLPA South Coast Study Region; comments related to other work of the science advisory team, regional stakeholder group, task force or other MLPA Initiative activities should be directed to those bodies or MLPA staff.

Workshop Objectives
* Review and provide input on a draft graphical and narrative explanation of major oceanographic patterns in the MLPA South Coast Study Region to be included in a regional profile
* Receive an overview of MLPA modeling efforts
* Evaluate approaches to developing dispersal kernels for population models used to design and evaluate alternative marine protected area (MPA) proposals
* Discuss implications of oceanography and geography of the Southern California Bight for MPA spacing guidelines and the evaluation of MPA proposals

Workshop Agenda
Note: The workshop participants will break for lunch at approximately 12:00 noon. Public comment will be taken immediately following lunch at approximately 1:00 p.m.

1. Welcome, introductions and review of agenda
2. Major oceanographic patterns in southern California
A. Developing an oceanographic perspective for MLPA in southern California
B. Feedback from participants on oceanographic patterns
3. Overview of modeling efforts for the MLPA South Coast Study Region
A. Overview of the Equilibrium Delay Difference Model (EDOM)
B. Overview of the University of California, Davis (UCD) model
C. Overview of the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) based dispersal kernel

4. Discussion about dispersal
?? What are advantages and disadvantages of integrating ROMS into the dispersal kernel?
?? Do predictions from the ROMS-based dispersal kernel match known patterns of propagule, plankton or larval movement?
A. Drifters
B. Recruitment studies
?? Discussion of other empirical data on dispersal and connectivity
?? Discuss ways to improve the ROMS-based dispersal kernel or create new dispersal kernels.
5. Implications of oceanography and geography of the Southern California Bight on marine protected area spacing guidelines
?? Are supplemental analyses needed to evaluate potential connectivity among MPAs in the south coast study region?
6. Wrap up and next steps
7. Adjourn

Presentations
A. PowerPoint presentation: Developing an oceanographic perspective for MLPA in southern California (John Largier, University of California, Davis)
B. PowerPoint presentation: Overview of EDOM (Chris Costello, University of California, Santa Barbara)
C. PowerPoint presentation: Overview of UCD model (Will White and Loo Botsford, University of California, Davis)
D. PowerPoint presentation: Overview of ROMs-based dispersal kernel (Satoshi Mitarai, University of California, Santa Barbara)
E. PowerPoint presentation: Empirical data from drifters (Mark Ohman, Scripps Institution of Oceanography)
F. PowerPoint presentation: Empirical data from recruitment studies (Pete Raimondi, University of California, Santa Cruz)
G. PowerPoint presentation: Overview of MPA spacing guidelines and justification (Steve Gaines, University of California, Santa Barbara)