Noyo Center For Marine Science

Education: The Noyo Center for Marine Science inspires people of all ages to engage with marine science and conservation, including over 2,000 students annually, through a variety of educational programs. Our science museums at the Discovery Center in downtown Fort Bragg, the Crows Nest Interpretative Center on the Fort Bragg Headlands, and the Marine Field Station in Noyo Harbor offer in-person educational tours and welcomes approximately 100,000 visitors annually. We also offer summer camps and afterschool programs for kids. We continued the 2022 pilot project in local schools to educate students about their plastic use and consumer habits. We continued to offer adult educational opportunities through a robust science lecture series delivered via zoom, citizen science program, and community events like Whale Fest and Kelp Fest in which participants engaged with exhibits designed to educate and inspire.

Marine Mammal Response: In partnership with the California Academy of Sciences and The Marine Mammal Center, we continue to respond to deceased marine mammals in southern Mendocino County as part of the west coast marine mammal stranding network. We participate in collecting relevant data on all animals we encounter for a national database overseen by NOAA.

Kelp Recovery: Noyo Center continues to work and leverage collaborative partnerships to address the critical loss of the bull kelp nearshore ecosystem. Over 95% of our kelp forest has been lost since 2014, jeopardizing important marine life and habitat. Noyo focused work on two areas as part of its conservations aquaculture efforts to address bull kelp loss: creating a new fishery for purple urchin that are now 100 times more plentiful than in normal conditions, including developing a regenerative aquaculture program at the Field Station. Following a trial project in collaboration with Bodega Marine Lab, the Noyo Center began planning its urchin ranching program which will take starving, empty purple sea urchins that have overtaken the nearshore habitat and feed them in a land-based aquaculture system to create a desirable, restorative seafood project. If successful, this effort could continue to reduce the purple urchin population that prevents the regrowth of the bull kelp forest. Another component of our conservation aquaculture is a red abalone captive breeding program in collaboration with the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians, UC Davis, Bodega Marine Lab and various partners that addresses the critical state of red abalone through three main objectives: 1) restore habitat off Kashia tribal lands to create kelp oasis zones for abalone to thrive, 2) recondition adult abalone to become reproductive broodstock, and raise larval red abalone to a size large enough to outplant in the oasis zones, and 3) train tribal divers to monitor and maintain diversity in the restoration zones. We continue to develop content for our ocean immersion dome, highlighting these efforts by providing a 360-degree underwater experience to our visitors at the Discovery Center Science Museum. The Noyo Center has also been a key player in the development of a Blue Economy vision for the Mendocino Coast, completing a feasibility study to advance our understanding in our region. With partners in Mendocino College, West Business Development Center, the City of Fort Bragg, and the Harbor District, Noyo is advancing blue economy objectives through regenerative aquaculture, and the planning and design of the Ocean Science Center (see below).While Noyo Center addresses the critical issues of today, it is also looking to the future in planning of the Ocean Science Center, a state-of-the-art research and education center on 12 acres on the Fort Bragg Headlands is considered a transformation project for this region, critical to addressing coastal and economic resilience. Architects were engaged to produce a site master plan, schematic designs, and an operational business plan for the OSC.