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Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary News

15 Aug 2023

Matson Adjusts Its Sailing Schedule to Increase Whale Safety

© David Johnson / Adobe Stock

U.S.-based Pacific shipping company Matson announced it has adjusted its sailing routes to help reduce the risk of whale strikes off the coast of California.Shipping channels into and out of San Francisco Bay and the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex transit federally protected national marine sanctuaries. These sanctuaries –Monterey Bay, Greater Farallones, and Cordell Bank national marine sanctuaries–are destination feeding areas for threatened and endangered humpback and blue whales from late spring through the fall.In 2015…

13 Aug 2018

Fishing Vessel Runs Aground near Santa Cruz

The 56-foot commercial fishing vessel, Pacific Quest, is broken and beached near Seymour Marine Discovery Center in Santa Cruz, Calif., August 13. Responders are working to remove fuel from tanks on the beach during low tide. (U.S. Coast Guard courtesy photo)

Responders are working to remove fuel from the tanks of a 56-foot commercial fishing vessel that ran aground near California’s Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary on Sunday.The grounded vessel, Pacific Quest, is broken up and beached near Seymour Marine Discovery Center in Santa Cruz., with a maximum potential capacity of 1,200 gallons of diesel on board, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.The captain of the fishing vessel contacted Coast Guard Sector San Francisco watchstanders at approximately 2 a.m. Sunday, reporting that his vessel ran aground with only himself and his dog aboard.

08 Sep 2006

Expedition to Explore Submerged Wreck of Airship

On September 17, 2006 researchers from NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary program and Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute will embark on an expedition off the Big Sur coast to conduct an archaeological investigation at the submerged wreck site of the rigid airship USS Macon, the nation’s largest and last U.S. built rigid lighter-than-air craft. The 785-ft. USS Macon, an U.S. Navy "dirigible," and its four Curtiss F9C-2 Sparrowhawk aircraft were lost on February 12, 1935 during severe weather offshore of Point Sur, Calif., on a routine flight from the Channel Islands to its home base at Moffett airfield. The wreckage of the USS Macon provide an opportunity to study the relatively undisturbed archaeological remnants of a unique period of U.S. aviation history.

31 Jul 2006

USCG, NOAA to Remove Wreckage from Monterey Bay

The U.S. Coast Guard and NOAA will oversee the salvage of the motor vessel Albion in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. The Albion sank in 180 ft. of water on January 31, 2005 two miles north of Monterey Harbor and has remained there ever since. The owner has not salvaged the vessel during the past eighteen months. Therefore, in order to remove the threat of pollution from the Sanctuary, the Coast Guard and NOAA have taken over the operation. The Coast Guard and NOAA will begin work with the contractor, Titan Maritime Corp., until the wreckage removal is complete. Small sheens have been observed at the wreck site since the vessel sank with an estimated 1700 gallons of diesel in its fuel tank. Measures will be in place to prevent any pollution during the recovery.

27 Jul 2006

Med Taipei Owners, Operators to Pay $3.25M in Settlement

The owners and operators of the foreign-flagged container vessel Med Taipei have agreed to pay $3.25m to the United States to resolve allegations that the 15 containers lost overboard in 2004 resulted in long-term damage to the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS), the Department of Justice and the Department of Commerce announced on July 25. The settlement in behalf of MBNMS, located off the coast of California, and the owners and operators of the vessel – All Oceans Transportation, Inc., Italia Marritema SpA and Yang Ming Transport Corporation – represents the largest damages awarded to date for damages to a national marine sanctuary. In February 2004, 15 containers fell overboard from the Med Taipei when the vessel was traveling on rough seas from San Francisco to Los Angeles.