Five miles off the coast of Point Reyes, near San Francisco, CA, the boundaries of Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary begin. In 2015, new regions were added to this sanctuary that had never been explored. One of the primary missions of this August 2017 expedition was to visually survey these deep water habitats–a critical first step in protecting and managing marine sanctuaries. Using recently created seafloor maps to identify hard substrate areas–ideal habitat for deep water corals and sponges–we sent ROVs Hercules and Argus to investigate. 

Learn more about the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary expedition.