Sea Stars Gala 2022

Panetta Sea Star: Dr. Kenneth Coale

Dr. Kenneth Coale, late former Director of Moss Landing Marine Labs (MLML), which is home to San Jose State University’s School of Marine Science. Dr. Coale received his B.A. and Ph.D. from UC Santa Cruz before he joined MLML in 1988 as a post-doctoral fellow with Dr. John Martin. There, Dr. Coale orchestrated one of the great discoveries of ocean science as they explored the importance of iron as a “fertilizer” for the world’s oceans. Dr. Coale was a key player in these ocean sampling/experimental cruises, demonstrating that iron is a critical and limiting element in many parts of the oceans. Dr. Coale became an adjunct faculty member of MLML in 1992 and taught a course in chemical oceanography before becoming the Acting Director of the Labs in 1998. He became the permanent Director in 2001 until his retirement in 2011 and a Professor of Chemical Oceanography in 2018. Dr. Coale was a bio-geochemist, studying trace elements, radionuclides, and trace metal dynamics. He mentored numerous students at MLML and elsewhere and was a steadfast and vigorous champion of MLML locally and around the world. He will be especially remembered for his clever, compassionate, and witty comments; his passion for building and designing things (an example was his popular fabrication class); and his dedication to the MLML family. He called MLML the “little marine lab that could”, and his wise leadership and forward thinking was exemplary and deeply appreciated.

Business and Tourism: Michael Bekker

Michael Bekker, Vice President at Cannery Row Company has spent 21 years, dedicating his career to ensuring Cannery Row remains a clean, safe, sustainable, and environmentally responsible destination—Mr. Bekker developed the highly acclaimed resource recovery program available to Cannery Row Company tenants. Each year, the service collects more than 1,142 tons of waste, and recycling efforts keep more than 1.300 bins of glass, aluminum cans, and plastic, along with 130 tons of cardboard, out of our local landfill.

Mr. Bekker has held many key leadership roles, including the Sanctuary Tourism & Recreation Working Group (STAR), and served as a primary member of the Sanctuary Advisory Council for more than 20 years.  He has led fundraising efforts for sanctuary events and initiatives, and he has worked with colleagues in the business community to support and adopt measures to protect and enhance the environment.

Education and Outreach: O’Neill Sea Odyssey (OSO)

O’Neill Sea Odyssey (OSO), founded in 1996 by Jack, Tim and Bridget O’Neill, provides an ocean-going science education program for 4th-6th grade school classes. The program is free and also provides bus transportation for classes who need it. The program consists of in-class curriculum, an ocean-going field trip centered on plankton collection and examination, and watershed protection. More than 50% of the students OSO serves speak English as-a-second language and are low-income. Most have never been on the ocean before although they come from Monterey, San Benito, Santa Cruz and Santa Clara Counties.  A study conducted in a master’s thesis from a first “Sea Odyssey generation” revealed that 75% of 86 former OSO participants retained a high level of awareness of the connection between non-point source pollution and personal behaviors two to five years after the program, regardless of differences in sex, language, grade level, and community setting.  To date, OSO has served nearly 125,000 students!

Research: Dr. Kerstin Wasson

Dr. Kerstin Wasson has been the Research Coordinator for 22 years at the Elkhorn Slough Foundation.  The main channel of Elkhorn Slough is part of Monterey Bay National Marine sanctuary and is a critical habitat for feeding migrating birds, serving as a nursery for fishes, filtering water before it enters the sanctuary, providing habitat for sea otters, sequestering carbon, and protecting the regional coast from flooding.  Dr. Wasson has been invaluable in assessing the condition of the Slough and addressing human impacts in this highly modified system. She has developed nationally-recognized monitoring programs and served decades of service on the Sanctuary Research Activity Panel.  She is also an academic expert in native oyster restoration, invasive species, and large-scale marsh restoration, where she is participating in innovative information sharing with the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band.  Dr. Wasson and her extensive network of colleagues have long been the essential estuarine partners for MBNMS. Dr. Wasson received her doctorate from UC Santa Cruz in 1996 and taught at University of Washington and Humboldt State University before coming to work at the Reserve in 2000, but she has been getting stuck in the Slough’s mudflats, in search of invertebrates, since 1990.

Resource Protection: Save Our Shores

Save Our Shores was formed in 1978 to oppose plans to drill for oil in federal waters off the coast of central and northern California. Over 44 years, Save Our Shores has helped to pass laws in 26 communities to block or require voter approval for onshore facilities for offshore oil, secured passage of 52 local laws aimed at single use plastic, negotiated a water quality agreement with the sale of the Moss Landing Power Plant, initiated a needed dialogue with the fishing community after the establishment of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, and successfully fought sand mining in Marina. Save Our Shores helped to lead the effort to expand the boundaries of Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary to prevent offshore drilling north of Santa Cruz and south of San Francisco, a high value target for the oil industry. Today, its staff and volunteers continue to implement the Annual Coastal Cleanup for our area, offer year-round cleanups, and clean-boating programs to keep pollution out of the sanctuary operate throughout Monterey Bay.  It also offers youth education programs in the classroom and out in the-field to inspire the upcoming generations to become environmental stewards. In the past five years alone, the staff have engaged over 12,000 youth in education programs and are now working to reduce barriers to coastal access. Lastly, Save Our Shores participates in state-wide environmental coalitions to push policy and advocacy efforts into place, fighting to maintain hard-won ocean protections.