The Monterey Bay Sanctuary: Not exactly pristine
One of the great things about living next to the ocean is that it makes it easy to get rid of sewage, trash and pretty much anything else you don’t want. And while the East Coast tradition of simply hauling municipal garbage out to sea on a barge and pushing it overboard never caught on here (something to do with the prevailing onshore wind, no doubt), Moss Landing’s Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (better known as MBARI) now tells us that Monterey Bay is nevertheless awash with trash.