The Blue Silicon Valley is a term that describes the Monterey Bay of California, USA and is part of one of the leading and largest sustainable, marine protected area, research and development regions in the world, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS), which encompasses a shoreline length of 276 miles and more than 6,000 square miles of ocean. Monterey Bay itself is located 30 miles southwest of Silicon Valley and as part of the MBNMS was designated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 1992, bringing federal protection to the marine area in Northern California stretching from Marin County to Cambria, California. The sanctuary was originally established for the purposes of resource protection, research and development, education and public use and is now the most researched body of water in the world.
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Natural history
The Monterey Bay sanctuary contains America's largest kelp forest and one of the largest underwater canyons and closest-to-shore deep ocean environments in the world reaching over two miles in depth.
Monterey Bay was recently featured in a documentary on BBC called 'Big Blue Live' which documented the wildlife success story and marine animal phenomenon currently taking place in Monterey Bay. Footage of humpback whales, blue whales, sea lions, orcas, otters and seals was beamed 'live' back to the United Kingdom for three successive evenings in August of 2015 and later viewed on PBS in the U.S.
Monterey Bay's diverse marine ecosystem also includes rugged rocky shores, wave-swept sandy beaches and tranquil estuaries. These habitats harbor a wide variety of marine life, including 34 species of marine mammals, more than 180 species of seabirds and shorebirds, at least 525 species of fish, and an abundance of invertebrates and algae. Known as the 'Serengeti of the Sea,' this productive marine environment is fringed by sand dunes, rocky cliffs, rolling hills and steep mountains.
Economy
The Monterey Bay area is also a world leader in sustainable marine science research and development with over 30 different academic, non-profit institutions, federal and state agency laboratories and other facilities focused on marine science, biology, research, education and technology with a combined annual budget exceeding $330 annually. Bordering Silicon Valley, cutting edge commercial activity from the Monterey Bay marine science community is now emerging worldwide. Thus, the term, ‘Blue Silicon Valley’, was coined by a group of leading businesspeople, engineers and scientists from Silicon Valley and the Monterey Bay region of California.
The Monterey Bay’s marine science expertise includes oceanography, climate and weather forecasting, fisheries, remote sensing, marine ecosystems, environmental monitoring, cellular and molecular marine biology, instrument/sensor/mooring development, underwater vehicles technology, ocean currents and acoustics, marine policy and education. Other marine science sectors of leadership include abalone farming, marine aquaculture for food and energy, kelp farm production, climate change, sea level rise research and water quality analysis.
Promotion
The Monterey Bay 'Blue Silicon Valley' is supported by the business communities of Silicon Valley and the Monterey Bay and is now being promoted to the Blue Economy around the world.
Qingdao, Shandong (PRC), the 9th busiest port in the world, established its own ‘Blue Silicon Valley’ which is centered in its new high-tech industrial zone and is estimated to have over 10,000 companies supporting over 200,000 new jobs in the coming years. The 'Blue Silicon Valleys' in both America and China are now cooperating with research, trade and investment between their respective 'blue economies' to lead the world in providing sustainable solutions to the challenges our oceans face in the 21st Century.