Piering into the future

The Cal Poly Pier, located in Avila Beach, will open its newly constructed facility to students and professors this April.

The facility houses water tanks where students can perform ongoing research with marine life.

The College of Mathematics and Science raised $1.7 million in the last four years in order to construct the new building.

“It really makes things quite different,” said Tom Moylan, pier facility operations manager. “Now the possibilities are quite broad. The idea is that they have this constant supply of sea water where they can leave animals that they are working with. The hardest part was designing a system that was as fail safe as possible.”

Pumps and filters push seawater to the pier level where the water is distributed into individual tanks. This constant water supply allows students to set up tanks where they can perform feeding studies or raise fish, Moylan said.

“I refer to it as a ‘BYOT’ facility: bring your own tank,” Moylan said. “Students can bring their own tank and then just hook up their water flow and get their conditions set and they are ready to go.”

The facility will allow a new level of research for students and professors. Now research can span over months with the ability to keep marine life alive in the tanks. Without the tanks, animals had to be released back into the ocean each day, Moylan said.

“One of the difficult aspects is when you are working in the marine environment it is hard to manipulate things,” said Mark Moline, associate professor in the biological sciences department and director of the marine science program. “What this flowing sea water system does is allow students and professors to provide a controlled environment for animals that they can manipulate, study and show in a controlled environment. That leads to a number of studies you can do on the animals as well as offering a showcase to other students and the public as well.”

The new facility along with the pier is open to designated students, professors and researchers.

Unocal Corp. donated the Cal Poly Pier in the spring of 2002.

Students and classes – including biology, engineering, architecture and physics – use the pier for research and learning purposes, Moylan said.

“On average we have about 1,200 students a year use the pier and about 500 visit per year for various projects,” he said. “Our goal is to make it a campus-wide resource.”

The 3,000-foot-long pier is built of concrete and steal as opposed to wood, creating a sturdy surface.

“Most of the surface is grating so that waves can come through the pier and the pier will remain standing,” Moylan said. “So, the first thing that you notice is how well it is built. I describe it as an oil rig lying on its side, which is good for us because it means it will be around for a long time.”

The Cal Poly Pier accommodates a conference room, laboratory and water access, said Moylan.

“We have monitoring data or instruments that are in the water 24-seven collecting data,” he said. “We also have a high-end weather station on the roof of the building because a lot of marine science is tied into weather.”

Moline said the new facility allows students to test instruments in water tanks before placing them in the ocean to collect information.

Moylan said he has numerous plans for the piers improvement in the upcoming years. Future plans include a floating dock for convenient water access and boat launching, said Moylan.

“Down the road we would like to replace the existing 2,000 square foot building with a 10,000 square foot teaching and research facility, research labs for visiting scientist, a library, conference rooms and a dive walker for a scuba diving program.”

For more information on the Cal Poly Pier, go to marine.calpoly.edu.