ABOUT USRESEARCHEDUCATIONRESTORATIONVIDEOSSTORESUPPORT USPHOTO GALLERY

Research - Archive

Past AMRF/ORV Alguita Projects:

  1. Plastic Debris, Rivers to Sea
  2. Escalera Nautica
  3. Beachmark Study of the San Ignacio and Ojo de Liebre Lagoon

Archived Projects

Plastic Debris, Rivers to Sea

Algalita Marine Research Foundation (AMRF) has been granted $482,183 by the California State Water Resources Control Board to conduct a pilot project, researching industrial sites and non-point sources responsible for adding plastic debris to the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers’ watersheds. The project began in November 2003 and was conclude in March 2006.

Escalera Nautica

The "Nautical ladder" project spans the coast of our neighbors to the south. President Fox of Mexico had proposed to build 24 new marinas down the coast of Baja California with the hope of luring American boating businesses and tourists across the border by providing 23,000 new slips.  President Fox’s administration is now coming to an end and he has not accomplished what he set out to do. There were many problems associated with this project. One of the problems was the marina at Santa Rosalita. The marina was poorly designed and put in the middle of a littoral cell where sand moves along a beach. If you try to put a marina where sand is in motion, it fills it up and the jetties weren’t long enough to keep the sand out. The marina was filled with sand, which made it unusable. They had to stop the project and they are now just starting it up again to extend the jetties out further so that the sand will not continue to fill in the marina so quickly. The problem we foresee is that marinas disrupt the delicate balance naturally created for the coastal marine ecosystem. Although this issue is a politically charged, international one, AMRF is encouraged to participate in determining the effects these new marinas will have. After all, it was our founder, Charles Moore who said, "The Ocean has no boundaries; the impact humans have on the ocean effects the entire ocean." The ORV Alguita has already made one research voyage to assess the impact but plans to return to compile more data once construction resumes.  We intend to inform the inhabitants of Baja California of what the damage will be should they allow this "Ladder" to progress.

Year two (2) of the Benchmark study of the San Ignacio and
Ojo de Liebre Lagoon

This study has produced the first scientific report characterizing the marine habitat of the Eastern Pacific Gray Whale.  Scientist Gustavo Riano of Biopesca has compiled the scientific research of various participants in the study and produced an interactive CD comparing the two lagoons that concludes the results for the pilot project.