January 12, 2008

Stanford University, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) have joined forces to create the Center for Ocean Solutions, a new collaboration that will bring together international experts in marine science and policy to find innovative ways to protect and restore the world's oceans.

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation provided a $25 million grant to establish the new center in Monterey, California, near the Monterey Bay Aquarium - one of the world's top aquariums, with more than 42 million visitors since 1984 - and Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station, the oldest marine research lab on the West Coast. MBARI, a leading independent oceanographic research institution, is located in Moss Landing, about 20 miles to the north.

"It is with great pleasure that Stanford joins two world-class institutions, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and MBARI, to establish the Center for Ocean Solutions - a unique forum where marine scholars can develop effective solutions to one of the most critical environmental problems of the 21st century," Stanford President John Hennessy said. "Stanford is widely recognized for its broad range of marine scholarship in biology, aquaculture, environmental law and many other fields. But the problems we face - from polluted shorelines to collapsing fisheries - are so complex that they will only be solved by engaging in new collaborations that extend beyond the university."

Although based in California, the center will confront problems that affect oceans worldwide, including climate change and overfishing. Recent studies warn that unless global warming is brought under control and the seas are managed in a sustainable way, most of the world's commercial fisheries will collapse within 50 years, along with the majority of coral reef and mangrove ecosystems.

The Center for Ocean Solutions will be managed by Stanford's Woods Institute for the Environment, which is located on the main university campus about 90 miles north of Monterey. The university also will serve as the fiscal sponsor responsible for payroll and hiring.

A search is under way for a center director, who will be appointed to the Stanford faculty and will work under the leadership of an advisory council chosen by the three collaborating institutions. In the meantime, marine policy expert Meg Caldwell, a senior lecturer at Stanford Law School and at the Woods Institute, will serve as interim director.

"The center will be a tremendous asset to all of us engaged in this work as we continue to address the great challenges facing our oceans, along the coast of California, in our neighboring states and around the world," said Mike Chrisman, California state secretary for resources. Chrisman also chairs the California Ocean Protection Council, a state agency that helps coordinate management of California's ocean resources.

"The problem right now is that we take our oceans for granted," said Leon E. Panetta, co-director of the Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy at California State University-Monterey Bay and co-chair of the national Joint Ocean Commission Initiative. A former White House chief of staff during the Clinton administration and past chair of the Pew Oceans Commission, Panetta now serves on the board of directors of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. "I grew up and live in Monterey, where boundless catches of sardines and bustling canneries served and supported fishermen and their families," he said. "When the sardine industry collapsed, the lives and businesses that depended on that resource also collapsed. The Center for Ocean Solutions will go a long way in preventing that kind of devastation, which threatens other fishing communities along our coasts."