Lynne Sullivan is the Operations Manager for the Noyo Center for Marine Science, a non-profit organization in Fort Bragg, CA. As the Operations Manager, Lynne handles the day-to-day operations of the organization and supports the staff of 13 employees. She has a bachelors degree in Biology from Denison University in Ohio and has been thrilled to be part of the growth of the Noyo Center for the past 4 years.

Lynne's presentation will include an overview of the importance of our ocean environment and the ecological imbalance that has taken place over the past several years that has contributed to the decimation of the once-vibrant kelp forest along our coastline. She'll talk about the near extinction of the sunflower sea stars that has allowed for an explosion in the population of purple urchin. The purple urchin have destroyed 97% of the kelp, turning vast areas where communities of kelp, fish, and other sea creatures once thrived into "urchin barrens". Lynne will also discuss the efforts that the Noyo Center and its partners are taking to learn more about this crisis, share our knowledge with others, and support new economic opportunities for a Blue Economy. She'll describe the Noyo Center's "Urchin Ranch" aquaculture project in Noyo Harbor as an example of innovative ways to utilize ocean resources sustainably as we learn, and work to support our community along the way.

We hope you will be able to join us!

For more information about the Noyo Center and to support our efforts, please visit our website: https://www.noyocenter.org/