October 15, 2010
The Habitat Ecology Team is collecting baseline data on demersal communities (fishes, invertebrates, habitats) in deep portions of eight new marine protected areas (MPAs) and reference sites in California state waters (see figure). Deep-water habitats make up 75% of the seafloor in state waters off central California, and yet far less is known about these habitats than in shallow water. This is a collaborative program with academic partners from University of California Cooperative Extension Sea Grant Program, Washington State University, University of California Santa Barbara, and SRI International, with additional funding from California’s Ocean Protection Council. We are coupling seafloor habitat maps with visual surveys conducted from a manned submersible. These quantitative, non-destructive survey methods are necessary for an ecosystem approach to the management of diverse communities on rocky areas of shelf and slope. Long-term monitoring will be needed to fully evaluate the benefits of these MPAs.
Figure: Survey sites in and out of MPAs off central CA.
Top inset: Submersible transect (yellow line) over map of rock outcrop.
Bottom inset: Schematic of habitat patches (mud, boulder, cobble, sand) along submersible transect.
Learn more:
Starr, R. and M. Yoklavich. 2008. Monitoring MPAs in deep water off central California: 2007 IMPACT submersible baseline survey. California Sea Grant College Program Publ. No. T-067: 1-22.
(View document)
Yoklavich, M.M., G.M. Cailliet, R.N. Lea, H.G. Greene, R. Starr, J. deMarignac, and J. Field. 2002. Deepwater habitat and fish resources associated with the Big Creek Ecological Reserve. CalCOFI Reports 43:120-140.
(View article)
Yoklavich, M., H. G. Greene, G. Cailliet, D. Sullivan, R. Lea, and M. Love. 2000. Habitat associations of deep-water rockfishes in a submarine canyon: an example of a natural refuge. Fishery Bulletin (U.S.) 98:625-641.
(View article)
Murray, S., R. Ambrose, J. Bohnsack, L. Botsford, M. Carr, G. Davis, P. Dayton, D. Gotshall, D. Gunderson, M. Hixon, J. Lubchenco, M. Mangel, A. McCall, D. McArdle, J. Ogden, J. Roughgarden, R. Starr, M. Tegner, and M. Yoklavich. 1999. No-take reserve networks: sustaining fishery populations and marine ecosystems. Fisheries 24(11):11-25.
(View article on publisher's site 
, subscription may be required.)
Yoklavich, M. (Ed.) 1999. A continuing dialog on no-take reserves for resource management. Proceedings of a 1998 CalCOFI Symposium. CalCOFI Reports 40:65-125.
(View article on publisher's site )
Yoklavich, M. (Ed.) 1998. Marine harvest refugia for west coast rockfish: A workshop. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS, NOAA-TM-NMFS-SWFSC-255. 159 p.
(View document)
Yoklavich, M., R. Starr, J. Steger, H.G. Greene, F. Schwing, and C. Malzone. 1997. Mapping benthic habitats and ocean currents in the vicinity of central California’s Big Creek Ecological Reserve. NOAA Technical Memorandum, NOAA-TM-NMFS-SWFSC-245, 52 p.
(View document)
Contact: SWFSC Fisheries Ecology Division, Habitat Ecology Team