204. Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary

204. MontereyBay National Marine Sanctuary: Protecting a Priceless Ocean Treasure (50 seconds)
Dawn Hayes, Education Director of the MontereyBay National Marine Sanctuary

Location: By the interpretive panel “Protecting A PricelessOcean Treasure”

Hello! My name is Dawn Hayes and I am the Educational Coordinator for NOAA’s Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and work out of the Monterey office.

The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary protects over 6,000 square miles of ocean habitat, an area larger than Yosemite National Park.

Look at the illustration of the MontereySubmarineCanyon. Place your finger at the mouth, which is offshore of Moss Landing, and follow one of the crevices till you reach the bottom. In some areas, the ocean reaches depths of up to 2 miles!

Under the waters out beyond you, lies one of the world’s richest ocean ecosystems. You might be lucky and see migrating whales swim by. Your best bet to view sea otters is at MossLandingStateBeach, to the north. Large rafts of 50 otters have been hanging out by the mouth of the harbor.