Nearshore Rocky Reefs and Kelp Forests, California North Coast MPA Baseline Study, 2014 to 2015

Here we provide one of the first systematic, “snapshot” surveys of the entire North Coast Study Region, from the Oregon border to the headland at Point Arena. Our attempt was to characterize these subtidal rocky reefs both inside of the newly created MPAs throughout the region and at comparable and representative reference areas outside of MPAs. We utilized small (19 and 22 ft) vessels for these surveys since representative reef habitats in this region are often remote and inaccessible from shore. These habitats are better represented in this study relative to those often reported on from the limited beach access surveys confined to small areas by other monitoring efforts. We used SCUBA surveys to measure the physical characteristics of rocky reefs and the relative abundance and sizes of many of the fishes, mobile and sessile invertebrates, and algae at each site. Species abundances were estimated along 30 m long swath surveys that count individuals within a 60 m² area or at predetermined points along a transect using uniform point contact (UPC) methods to estimate the percent cover of colonial and encrusting organisms covering the reefs.