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California's north-central 
coast is famous for 
its natural splendor.

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Here, on the very edge of 
the North American continent, 
steep cliffs meet the vast

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Pacific Ocean.

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Only 50 miles northwest of 
San Francisco's famous Golden 
Gate Bridge, yet light years

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away from the hustle and bustle 
of the human world, lies a 
magical underwater island few

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people have ever heard of.

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It's sensory overload.

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I've never seen so much color, 
I didn't know where to look.

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Pinks, purples, oranges, 
even blues and greens, 
it's just mind blowing.

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Every single square inch 
of reef is covered by 
some sort of invertebrate.

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In some places you've got 
sponges growing on top of 
corals on top of anemones.

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There was the biggest school 
of fish that I've ever seen.

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Anywhere.

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It's truly amazing.

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This is the Cordell Bank 
- an underwater oasis that 
is an ecological Eden.

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It is a shallow bank 
located at the edge of 
the continental shelf.

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Cordell Bank is the 
seabird capital of the 
Northern Hemisphere.

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Seabirders come from 
all over the world.

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Europe, Asia, Africa, 
just to do pelagic seabird 
trips out to Cordell Bank.

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It's been documented that 
whales and seabirds will migrate 
from thousands of miles away

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to feed at Cordell 
Bank because the ocean 
there is so productive.

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We receive birds from New 
Zealand, turtles from Indonesia, 
albatross from Hawaii, they

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all come here to feed.

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Something's got to be right 
for all of these birds, 
these whales to come here.

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What makes this unique 
location so special?

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And what is done to research 
and protect this place?

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Major funding for this program 
was provided by the Batchelor 
Foundation, encouraging people

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to preserve and protect 
America's underwater resources.

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And by The William J. & 
Tina Rosenberg Foundation, 
The Do Unto Others Trust, 
and by the following.

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Hidden beneath a surface that 
is often shrouded in fog, the 
Cordell Bank is located 20 miles

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due west of the Point 
Reyes Lighthouse.

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It is a pretty spectacular 
place in that it has the bank, 
which is about four miles across

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by about nine and a half miles 
long, which comes up a couple 
hundred feet from the soft

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sediment of the 
continental shelf.

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So, you've got this feature, 
in the middle of all of the 
soft sediment that provides

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hard substrate for 
organisms to live on.

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The shallowest 
point is 115 feet.

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But from there, it drops.

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Most of the shallow 
area on the bank is 
between 130 and 160 feet.

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For centuries, this 
underwater gem lay 
hidden beneath the waves.

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George Davidson, who worked 
for the U.S. Coast Survey, was 
the first to discover the bank

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in 1853 - shortly after 
California became part 
of the United States.

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Sixteen years later he sent 
out the accomplished surveyor 
Edward Cordell to map the bank,

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which would later 
be named after him.

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And then from that point 
forward, it was a landmark for 
mariners who are coming back

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into San Francisco Bay.

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But it would be more than a 
century later before anyone 
else decided to further explore

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the area.

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In 1977, divers with 
the non-profit research 
association Cordell 
Expeditions began to look

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beneath the surface.

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We need to give a lot of that 
credit to Dr. Bob Schmieder.

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He started diving out there 
with a group of volunteer divers 
for almost 10 years, recording

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just the spectacular 
biodiversity that's 
down on the bank.

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And for those of us who just 
look at the surface of the water 
from the shore, we would have

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no idea that that was out there.

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Bob brought those images back 
and went to Washington, D.C. 
and this was right when the

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Marine Sanctuary Program 
was getting started 
and he said, "You know, 
this is really a place

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that deserves to be recognized 
and deserves to be protected 
because it's such a spectacular

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place."

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Acknowledging its ecological 
importance, the National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration

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established the Cordell 
Bank National Marine 
Sanctuary in May of 1989.

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The big driver was the 
prohibition of oil and 
gas exploration, which 
is one of our primary

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regulations.

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We also have regulations 
that prohibit the 
disturbance of the seabed.

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In 2015, the sanctuary 
boundaries were expanded to 
areas surrounding the bank.

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The sanctuary includes part 
of the continental shelf, from 
the deep slope habitat and then

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to the north, a prominent 
submarine feature 
called Bodega Canyon.

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It's all below the surface so 
it's really hidden from view 
and I think people are shocked

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when they learn that 
right off the California 
coast there's this area 
of incredible underwater

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beauty.

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National Marine Sanctuaries 
are important to protect, not 
just for people to visit and

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to see, but also because of 
the habitats that they protect.

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At Cordell Bank National Marine 
Sanctuary our science program 
is to understand the resources

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in the sanctuary and understand 
how they might be changing so 
that we can provide the best

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science information available 
for the best conservation.

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Since 2004, experts regularly 
conduct research at sea as part 
of ACCESS, which is short for

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"Applied California Current 
Ecosystems Studies."

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It's a collaboration 
between Greater Farrallones 
National Marine Sanctuary, 
Cordell Bank National

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Marine Sanctuary, and Point 
Blue Conservation Science.

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So, it's unique in that it's 
a public - private partnership 
and we each bring some resources

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and expertise together, and 
we're able to do much more 
than we could independently.

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And the object is to study the 
ocean health and that ocean 
ecosystem in the sanctuaries.

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We try and sample the same time 
frame every year so that we 
can look at changes over time.

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And to do that we survey three 
times a year, usually around 
May, July and September for

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six to ten days at a time.

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We want to hit the 
beginning of upwelling, 
the middle of upwelling, 
and right after upwelling.

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Wind-driven coastal upwelling 
is a physical process and North 
America's Pacific coastline

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is one of four major upwelling 
regions in the world.

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We have a persistent 
north wind blowing down 
the coast of California.

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And you would think that wind 
would drag the water along with 
it, well it does, but we're

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living on an earth that's 
rotating, and so the surface 
layer of the ocean, the top 100

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feet or something, is pushed 
offshore and you have to replace 
that water with something,

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so you replace it with 
water from underneath.

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That cold water welling up from 
the deep is rich in nutrients.

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These nutrients fuel tiny 
surface-dwelling ocean plants 
known as phytoplankton, which

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form the base of the 
marine food chain.

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It's like when you put 
plant food to your lawn, 
upwelling works like that.

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It upwells strongest and most 
persistently in Point Arena, 
and then it flows south and

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as it does that the 
phytoplankton develops.

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It takes about three 
to five days for a good 
phytoplankton bloom.

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And the water will change 
colors-starts looking 
green or maybe a little 
brown, typically green.

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And by the time that's 
happened the water's moved 100 
miles down the coast, which

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happens to be where 
Cordell Bank is.

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And there are a lot 
of organisms, krill 
for example, they will 
feed on these drifting

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plants.

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And of course they're eaten 
by fish and the fish are eaten 
by seals or the whales can

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be eating krill directly.

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So it's a whole ecosystem 
building up from 
those drifting plants.

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That is really the 
driver if you will.

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What makes Cordell Bank 
and many other places 
along the west coast of 
California so productive

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that then draws organisms 
from all over the Pacific to 
come and feed in this area.

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The ACCESS research team 
studies how the various 
oceanographic conditions 
influence the distribution

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and abundance of animals.

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When we are at sea 
we have two teams.

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A team that works on the 
flying bridge of the vessel.

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We have two marine mammal 
observers, one on each side.

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So, that's a humpback whale.

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And they're scanning in a 
90-degree quadrant on their 
side for marine mammals.

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Then we have one seabird 
observer on one side 
and she's scanning her 
90-degree quadrat as

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well, and one data recorder.

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So when they see a seabird 
or marine mammal they call 
out a series of codes.

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Common murre one, 
zone two, water.

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That gets entered into the 
computer with a GPS location.

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Our area here is actually 
probably one of the best places 
on the west coast for foraging

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birds and mammals.

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We observe humpback whales 
and blue whales and fin 
whales, grey whales.

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And seabirds like western 
gulls, common murres, 
shearwaters, storm petrels.

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Some of those are resident 
birds that breed in this area, 
but some of them migrate from

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thousands of miles away to feed 
in the productive waters here.

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We get species from all over the 
Pacific including: Indonesia, 
New Zealand, Alaska, Hawaii.

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For example, albatross will 
have chicks on the nest in the 
Northwest Hawaiian Islands,

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they will come all the way 
to Cordell Bank to find food, 
and then they turn around and

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go back, and then they feed 
their chick all within the 
breeding season coming all the

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way to Cordell Bank and 
going all the way back 
to the Hawaiian Islands.

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And they'll do that 
several times throughout 
the nesting season.

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It's really the best 
restaurant on the west coast.

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We can be working and 
suddenly there's a breaching 
whale right next to us.

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Or we're working and we see 
an ocean sunfish and those are 
pretty amazing fish to see.

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We have these predetermined 
transect lines that we survey 
repeatedly each time we go

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out.

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The spacing of the lines are 
so that we don't double count 
things, but we want to have them

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close enough together so that 
we're doing a full coverage.

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The boat stops at multiple 
stations along these transect 
lines so experts can sample

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the water column.

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The second team works 
on the back deck.

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We're sampling for the 
prey, the zooplankton and 
the krill and the fish.

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And the stations are selected 
so that we can sample all across 
the continental shelf, and

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then the shelf break, 
and then we sample 
beyond the shelf break.

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The shelf break is an important 
feature for seabirds and 
marine mammals feeding.

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A lot of the food gets 
concentrated when the 
water upwells there, 
so that's a hot spot

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for seabirds and marine mammals.

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We deploy several nets, a 
larger net that we use to 
monitor zooplankton in the upper

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water column.

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And one time on every line, 
we deploy a really large net, 
and we send that net about

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200 meters depth to 
sample for krill.

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And that goes back to the lab 
where all the krill get counted 
and sized and identified,

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there's a couple different 
species that we have.

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All the zooplankton goes to a 
specialist who will sort that 
sample and identify all the

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organisms in that sample.

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And so we're able to kind of 
quantify the water that we 
filter with the net and how

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much plankton is in that net 
and so we get an estimate of 
the prey availability to the

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seabirds and marine mammals.

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We sample the prey directly 
using nets or indirectly 
using hydroacoustics.

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So this computer is the 
hydroacoustic computer.

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Here we have a 
fancy fish-finder.

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And we- that operates at 
three different frequencies, 
and what it allows us 
to do is identify where

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fish, or where the 
krill concentrate.

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And then we're also doing 
oceanographic sampling.

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So look at the temperature 
and salinity and 
oxygen in the water.

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And the objective 
is to understand the 
ocean ecosystem health.

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So we're looking at the 
distribution and abundance 
of the predators, the 
seabirds, and the marine

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mammals.

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We look at the prey availability 
through the zooplankton, the 
krill and the fish, and then

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we look at the physical 
conditions in the ocean.

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By compiling these various 
layers experts gain a better 
understanding of how everything

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in the ecosystem ties together.

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And that's really how 
we can identify those 
hots spots of where we 
can allow certain things

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to happen, where we really 
shouldn't be allowing 
certain things to happen.

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While the sanctuary is actively 
protecting local resources, it 
still faces global stressors

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that might threaten 
the area in the future.

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One concern is lowered dissolved 
oxygen levels in the water 
caused by climate change.

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While low oxygen levels can 
occur naturally, human impacts 
have increased the frequency

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and severity of low-oxygen 
zones worldwide.

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If there were a really reduced 
level of oxygen at Cordell 
Bank like they've seen in other

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places like in Oregon, it 
could be really detrimental 
to the animals, the organisms

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that live on the bank, so we've 
been monitoring hypoxia, which 
means low oxygen, at Cordell

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Bank for the past few years.

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We haven't seen a huge die off, 
but we want to be monitoring 
and be able to catch things

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before we get to that point.

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The ACCESS research team, 
together with experts 
from the University of 
California, Davis Bodega

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Marine Laboratory, use 
a variety of sensors to 
measure the dissolved 
oxygen levels throughout

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the sanctuary.

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Under normal conditions, 
surface waters are saturated 
with dissolved oxygen 
from the atmosphere.

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Dead surface-dwelling 
plants and animals sink 
to the depths and use up 
oxygen during decomposition,

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making the water that upwells 
from the deep naturally 
low in dissolved oxygen.

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The animals that live down at 
depth in Cordell Bank, it's 
been millennia - ages that

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they've lived there, 
they've adapted to it and 
everything works fine.

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The concern of course 
is if we change that.

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As ocean surface temperatures 
rise with global climate change, 
the amount of dissolved oxygen

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the water can hold goes down.

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It also becomes more difficult 
for the oxygen to reach the 
colder, deep-water layers.

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The surface of the 
ocean gets warmer and it 
becomes more stratified.

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So you need more energy to 
mix up the cold water and the 
warm water and that also means

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that you will mix the 
oxygen from the surface 
down to depth more slowly.

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As a result of that, the oxygen 
at depth gets a bit lower.

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Meanwhile you're decomposing 
just as much material, but 
you're not topping it off with

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oxygen as rapidly if you 
have surface warming.

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We do see episodes every 
year of hypoxia on the shelf.

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In one case we had a report

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from a fisherman collecting 
crab that the crab were dead.

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So it can get low 
enough to cause impact.

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At this stage that's an unusual 
event, but that is the fear 
we have for the future if

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climate change continues to 
decrease the oxygen of the 
deep water in the ocean.

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Another climate change related 
impact affecting the oceans 
worldwide is ocean acidification

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- an increase in the acidity 
of the water caused by 
rising carbon dioxide levels.

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Ocean acidification is 
the change in the ocean 
chemistry which makes 
carbonate less available

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to animals that build shells 
and it can cause their shells 
to dissolve, or they may have

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more difficulty building 
shells, it may be a stressful 
environment for them.

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So, this could really affect 
the entire food chain.

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So we are starting to 
see impacts especially 
on some of the larval 
forms that are out there

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and they're extremely 
vulnerable in the early 
stages of their life.

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If acidification started to 
impact things like krill who 
use the carbon to form their

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carapace,

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if those krill were to 
go away, salmon would 
be negatively impacted.

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Our whole ecosystem would kind 
of get tilted, if these impacts 
of ocean acidification continue.

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It would affect everything 
from the plankton in our local 
ecosystem to the top predators,

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like the whales and seabirds.

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To measure the acidity of 
the water in the sanctuary, 
University of California Davis

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Ph.D. Candidate Carina Fish 
collects water samples during 
the ACCESS research trips.

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And that helps us understand 
how changes in the water column 
have been going on for the

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past, say, decade or so.

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Carina is also studying how 
ocean acidification may impact a 
species of deep sea corals that

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was recently discovered in the 
depths of the Bodega Canyon, 
which lies north of the Cordell

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Bank.

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Named after their skeleton, 
bamboo corals are long 
lived and slow growing.

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We've seen them as 
deep as 1800 meters.

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It's very cold and 
it is also very dark.

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The water down there 
is probably around like 
four degrees celsius.

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They rely solely on the 
marine snow falling from 
above as their food source.

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Marine snow is made up of 
dead phyto and zooplankton 
- tiny marine plants 
and animals that are

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sinking down into the deep.

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We're not seeing - the 
polyps would be on top of 
the skeleton, so this is

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just the actual bone-like 
structure of them.

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And the reason why I'm so 
particularly interested 
in the skeleton is 
because it has a lot of

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history that it records in it.

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So the chemistry of this 
organic node, this black part 
here, records the life cycle of

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the coral and also the 
environment in which it grew 
up in and the diet that it ate.

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They're going to be 
anywhere from like 100 
years old to 400 years old.

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So that's actually the 
beauty of deep sea corals.

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It's not just the past 
maybe decade or so that 
we've been monitoring.

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They give us a nice 
400-year record.

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The fear is that as ocean 
acidification worsens 
in the upper layers 
of the ocean, it will

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impact the zooplankton the 
corals rely on as a food source.

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00:20:39,833 --> 00:20:44,800
It could either be there 
are less amount of the 
available food or it 
could be the nutritional

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value of that food sinking 
down isn't as high.

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So that's what I'm 
investigating currently.

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The corals rely on the 
plankton, and the plankton 
rely on the ocean conditions.

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And so if you're able to 
understand the oceanographic 
conditions that you're 
seeing, the plankton

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communities that you're seeing, 
and the corals themselves,

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you can actually 
understand better

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holistically what the 
ecosystem is doing.

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It's really important as 
stewards of the sanctuary for 
us to be able to know how the

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sanctuary's doing.

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What are the status and 
trends, so that we can make 
decisions about management

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00:21:19,900 --> 00:21:22,433
that we can use to better 
protect the resources 
in the sanctuary.

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As with any remote or deep 
place in the ocean, much is left 
to explore inside the Cordell

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Bank National Marine Sanctuary.

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There is a whole 
lot to discover.

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'Cause every time we go down 
there, we find organisms that 
have never been described.

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00:21:51,666 --> 00:21:56,633
Until a local group of technical 
divers became interested in 
exploring the site, there had

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00:21:58,733 --> 00:22:01,900
been almost zero scuba diving on 
Cordell Bank, since the Cordell 
Expeditions team first explored

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00:22:03,366 --> 00:22:05,700
it in the 1970s.

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00:22:05,700 --> 00:22:07,633
Lots of helium.

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00:22:07,633 --> 00:22:10,566
POV's good.

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00:22:10,566 --> 00:22:15,066
It had kind of become 
like this mythical place.

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00:22:15,066 --> 00:22:16,233
Everybody had heard about it.

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00:22:16,233 --> 00:22:17,733
It was supposed to be amazing.

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00:22:17,733 --> 00:22:19,666
It was impossible to get to.

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00:22:19,666 --> 00:22:24,333
And so we always 
talked about diving it.

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00:22:24,333 --> 00:22:29,333
BAUE, or Bay Area Underwater 
Explorers, is a local affiliate 
group to a global organization

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00:22:33,166 --> 00:22:36,866
called Global 
Underwater Explorers.

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00:22:36,866 --> 00:22:41,400
One of the things that drives us 
all is just the urge to explore.

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00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:45,600
Documenting underwater life, 
and basically sharing that with 
the world so that they realize

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00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:48,733
there's a reason to 
conserve what's under there.

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00:22:48,733 --> 00:22:53,700
Diving on the Cordell 
Bank requires a highly 
specialized skill set, 
due to the challenging

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00:22:55,300 --> 00:22:58,766
depths, currents, 
weather conditions, and 
remoteness of the site.

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00:22:58,766 --> 00:23:03,733
It take's special 
training, practice and 
more importantly being 
very familiar with the type

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00:23:04,966 --> 00:23:07,033
of conditions that 
are out there.

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00:23:07,033 --> 00:23:11,800
Most of the divers have ten or 
so years of experience doing 
these kinds of dives on the

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00:23:13,133 --> 00:23:15,166
California coast.

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00:23:15,166 --> 00:23:18,933
It's typically very cold, 
low to mid 50s Fahrenheit.

292
00:23:18,933 --> 00:23:23,933
We need the wind and waves 
to be safe enough to get the 
divers on and off the boat, and

293
00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:28,300
probably the biggest 
unpredictable factor is the fog.

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00:23:28,300 --> 00:23:31,200
The fog can move in 
without any notice.

295
00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:34,100
And so all of our diving 
is done live boating.

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00:23:34,100 --> 00:23:38,766
There's a down line to get 
the divers to the structure, 
they will go wherever the dive

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00:23:38,766 --> 00:23:39,933
is going to take them.

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00:23:41,900 --> 00:23:44,366
And then when they're on their 
way back up they'll shoot a 
marker buoy so that we can

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00:23:44,366 --> 00:23:47,733
tag that marker buoy and 
then follow them wherever 
the currents would take them

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00:23:47,733 --> 00:23:49,633
and pick them up.

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00:23:51,700 --> 00:23:54,700
In 2013, after years 
of research, planning 
and preparation, the 
BAUE team was ready to

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00:23:57,200 --> 00:23:59,266
dive in.

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00:23:59,266 --> 00:24:03,166
We worked closely with NOAA, 
and the Cordell National Marine 
Sanctuary team in particular,

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00:24:06,300 --> 00:24:11,200
really to identify not just 
the regulatory steps required 
to go out there, but also to

305
00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:13,566
identify a mutually 
beneficial goal.

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00:24:13,566 --> 00:24:18,566
They are a great group of 
individuals who have been 
collecting important information

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00:24:20,566 --> 00:24:23,633
from the top of Cordell Bank 
for us, and it's been really 
a fantastic partnership.

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00:24:25,066 --> 00:24:29,366
We've collected images, 
videos, species, samples.

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00:24:29,366 --> 00:24:34,366
That first year, we got three 
days in a row of perfect 
conditions for diving and it was

310
00:24:35,900 --> 00:24:38,400
everything that we 
imagined and so much more.

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00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:40,566
And we got out to the bank 
and it was like, "Wow!

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00:24:40,566 --> 00:24:42,600
I can't believe 
we're actually here."

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00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:46,733
As soon as we dropped in the 
water and we're coming on the 
bottom and I see just fish

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00:24:46,733 --> 00:24:48,533
as far as the eye can see, 
in every single direction.

315
00:24:48,533 --> 00:24:50,666
You're like a kid 
in the candy store.

316
00:24:52,700 --> 00:24:55,666
It's of upmost importance that 
the public understands that 
these places exist and efforts

317
00:24:57,100 --> 00:24:59,766
to protect these places really 
do have a meaningful impact.

318
00:24:59,766 --> 00:25:04,200
Our hope is that by some of 
the work that we've done we 
can help kind of create that

319
00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:09,200
awareness for people that 
aren't necessarily going to 
get to see it themselves.

320
00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:17,600
California's Cordell Bank 
is a national treasure - one 
dedicated individuals and

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00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:24,066
organizations are working hard 
to explore, understand, and 
protect for many generations

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00:25:27,233 --> 00:25:29,766
to come.

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00:25:29,766 --> 00:25:33,833
As a marine sanctuary, 
that's really our mission, 
is to maintain these 
ocean areas in the best

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00:25:35,366 --> 00:25:39,533
possible condition that we can.

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00:26:12,833 --> 00:26:17,833
Major funding for this program 
was provided by the Batchelor 
Foundation, encouraging people

326
00:26:19,166 --> 00:26:23,433
to preserve and protect 
America's underwater resources.

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00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:29,533
And by The William J. & 
Tina Rosenberg Foundation, 
The Do Unto Others Trust, 
and by the following.