Citizen Scientist Monitoring of Rocky Reefs and Kelp Forests, California North Coast MPA Baseline Study, 2014 to 2016

RCCA volunteer citizen scientists conducted 18 visual scuba transects at each monitoring site to survey densities and sizes of ecologically and economically important fish, invertebrate and algal species and to characterize the physical habitats. Transects were 30-meters long and 2-meters wide swaths above the rocky reef substrate. Divers counted and sized key species of fish (35 species), counted invertebrates (33 species) and algae (9 species), and estimated the percent cover of substrate types and vertical relief of the seafloor. Over the baseline monitoring of 2014-2015, RCCA conducted 18 surveys at eight monitoring sites in the NCSR. Three of these sites have been surveyed since 2007. The data from these surveys were analyzed at multiple scales to provide baseline characterization of the kelp forest ecosystems at the time of MPA implementation. We characterized the biological community at the RCCA monitoring sites by summarizing the physical and biological characteristics of each of the sites. These summaries will serve as a reference point in the future as long-term monitoring continues.