The Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary outside San Francisco is home to one-fifth of the harbor seals in California. If it weren't for a cadre of highly trained volunteers, however, parts of the Sanctuary might become a seal ghost town.
Sanctuaries and other coastal resource programs are increasingly challenged by the question of how to staff programs and stay under budget. The answer, for most, is volunteers, but a bigger problem is how to attract, train, and keep these dedicated people.
The Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association may not have mastered the answer, but it's certainly a leader when it comes to making the most of its volunteers. Each of the 55 volunteers in the Association's Sanctuary Education Awareness and Long-Term Stewardship (SEALS) program spend a year working one of every four weekends observing and documenting the habits of the harbor seal and the threats human activity place upon this species.
The Association is the non-profit arm of NOAA's Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, and is into its third year of an organized seal program.
The program is not for the casual volunteer — it requires serious commitment. While no experience is needed in marine biology or science, each volunteer must undergo 33 hours of training over the course of a month. The training includes classroom and field studies with enrichment classes and field trips throughout the year to augment the training.
Maria Brown is executive director of the Association. She says her volunteers look for that challenge.
"A big part of our success is the training," she said. "We offer a high-quality training. It's just like taking a college-level course."
The volunteers come from a wide range of age groups. Last year, 24 percent of the volunteers were between the ages of 18 and 25; 34 percent were 26 to 40; 34 percent were 41 to 55; and 8 percent were 56 to 65.
After the first year, 50 percent re-enlisted for another 12 months.
At Bolinas Lagoon, they work three-hour shifts watching the seals, taking a population count, and monitoring seal behavior and human activity.
Bolinas Lagoon is near Highway One, where seals camp out on mud flats only 50 feet from the road. "People see the seals, stop and get out of their cars," Brown said. "Sometimes people try to touch the seals. They try and wade the channel, throw rocks at them, or let their dogs loose."
The situation wasn't much better when the SEALS program started at Tomales Bay, the other "hot zone" for the volunteers. The Bay is home to large clam beds. Clamming season coincides with the seal's pupping season, which brings people and the seals awfully close to each other.
The problems aren't solved yet, but Brown and her group have written a promising formula.
For more information on the Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association, contact Maria Brown at 415-561-6625.
