Sea of Cortez Expedition

In 1940 John Steinbeck and “Doc” Ricketts and three shipmates set out in a trawler from Monterey for 6 weeks to catalog the intertidal biodiversity of the shoreline of the Sea of Cortez. They meticulously cataloged the animals they collected and their cultural and philosophical observations of the people and landscapes they encountered. The book that resulted from this expedition presents a valuable opportunity for assessing changes in biodiversity, development, and cultural evolution over the intervening 80+ years. Many of the locations they surveyed have since been developed, and the combined effects of development, harvesting, and climate change has changed or eliminated much of the biodiversity they catalogued. We are planning a Sea of Cortez resurvey expedition to quantitatively assess changes in biodiversity, and reflect on the cultural and physical evolution of the landscapes they encountered.

UPDATE May 2025: We’re going! Thanks to a grant from the SEA Foundation, we chartered a sailboat, assembled an international crew of friends and colleagues, found a filmmaker, and will set sail March 2026. See www.greenflashconservation.org for more information.