Water Birth

In April 2005, about three dozen local ocean experts gathered on Pacific Grove’s rocky coast to brainstorm ways to better treat the litany of health problems afflicting the seas: The oceans are turning acidic, dead zones are proliferating, pollution continues unabated, species are invading, habitat is shrinking, shorelines are crumbling and fisheries are collapsing.

The institutes, along with others in the area, had a history of informal collaborations. But this was the first time they’d come up with the concept of a “super campus” for ocean research, a place for local experts and policymakers to formally collaborate.

In Hopkins’ boathouse auditorium, engineers with expertise in sediment transport bounced ideas off lawyers who know the legal ins and outs of marine reserves. Tuna experts hobnobbed with medical scholars studying how marine animals carry cholera. Together, they began to discuss the policy implications of their research. Intersecting circles and arrows crowded the chalkboard. The jumble of shapes and phrases eventually yielded a name: Center for Ocean Solutions.

Even when Ocean Solutions was just a glimmer in local scientists’ eyes, the center seemed destined for the Monterey Bay area. Home to a remarkable assembly of marine research institutes, ocean-oriented nonprofits and government agencies, the region is a natural testing ground for the unconventional mixing of science and policy.

“The Center for Ocean Solutions can’t just be a think tank,” says Stanford environmental lawyer Buzz Thompson. “It would have to be a do tank, actually moving those ideas into actions.”

Leaders of local marine institutes credit Thompson and Jeff Koseff, co-directors of Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment, with spearheading the concept. But the duo humbly insists that Ocean Solutions has been a group effort from the start. “This would not have worked if it had been one person’s idea and they just pushed it forward,” Thompson says. “With an ocean, you need multiple forms of expertise to solve problems.”

“This idea has resonated so quickly that people picked up on it,” adds Koseff, an expert in the physics and biology of the coastal sea. “This is too big an issue not to give it our best shot and not to try unconventional solutions.”

After Ocean Solutions’ chalkboard genesis, the assembled scientists migrated to the beach for beer and a barbecue – not fish, anything but fish – as the fog rolled in over Bird Rock and the sun lowered itself pinkly into the sea. Less than three years later, their vision has dawned.