Bight'98 Fish Abundance Data

Metadata:

• Identification_Information
• Data_Quality_Information
• Spatial_Data_Organization_Information
• Spatial_Reference_Information
• Entity_and_Attribute_Information
• Distribution_Information
• Metadata_Reference_Information

Identification_Information:

Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator:

Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP)

Publication_Date: 20030203

Title: Bight'98 Fish Abundance Data

Edition: Version 1

Publication_Information:

Publication_Place: Costa Mesa, California

Publisher: SCCWRP

Online_Linkage:

View a Map of this Data [html]

Download this Data as an Excel Friendly File [csv]

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Description:

Abstract:

The Southern California Bight, an open embayment in the coast between Point Conception and Cape Colnett (south of Ensenada), Baja California, is an important and unique ecological resource. The SCB is a transitional area that is influenced by currents from cold, temperate ocean waters from the north and warm, tropical waters from the south. In addition, the SCB has a complex topography, with offshore islands, submarine canyons, ridges and basins, that provides a variety of habitats. The mixing of currents and the diverse habitats in the SCB allow for the coexistence of a broad spectrum of species, including more than 500 species of fish and 1,500 species of invertebrates. The SCB is a major migration route, with marine bird and mammal populations ranking among the most diverse in north temperate waters. The coastal zone of the SCB is a substantial economic resource. Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor is the largest commercial port in the United States, and San Diego Harbor is home to one of the largest US Naval facilities in the country. More than 100 million people visit southern California beaches and coastal areas annually, bringing an estimated $9B into the economy. Recreational activities include diving, swimming, surfing, and boating, with about 40,000 pleasure boats docked in 13 coastal marinas within the region. Recreational fishing brings in more than $500M per year. The SCB is one of the most densely populated coastal regions in the country, which creates stress upon its marine environment. Nearly 20 million people inhabit coastal Southern California, a number which is expected to increase another 20% by 2010. Population growth generally results in conversion of open land into non-permeable surfaces. More than 75% of southern Californian bays and estuaries have already been dredged and filled for conversion into harbors and marinas. This "hardening of the coast" increases the rate of runoff and can impact water quality through addition of sediment, toxic chemicals, pathogens and nutrients to the ocean. Besides the impacts of land conversion, the SCB is already home to fifteen municipal wastewater treatment facilities, eight power generating stations, 10 industrial treatment facilities, and 18 oil platforms that discharge to the open coast. Each year, local, state, and federal organizations spend in excess of $10M to monitor the environmental quality of natural resources in the SCB. Most of this monitoring is associated with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits and is intended to assess compliance of waste discharge with the California Ocean Plan and the Federal Clean Water Act, which set water quality standards for effluent and receiving waters. Some of this information has played a significant role in management decisions in the SCB. While these monitoring programs have provided important information, they were designed to evaluate impacts near individual discharges. Today, resource managers are being encouraged to develop management strategies for the entire SCB. To accomplish this task, they need regionally-based information to assess cumulative impacts of contaminant inputs and to evaluate relative risk among different types of stresses. It is difficult to use existing data to evaluate regional issues because the monitoring was designed to be site-specific and is limited to specific geographic areas. The monitoring provides substantial data for some areas, but there is little or no data for the areas in between. Beyond the spatial limitations, data from these programs are not easily merged to examine relative risk. The parameters measured often differ among programs. Even when the same parameters are measured, the methodologies used to collect the data often differ and interlaboratory quality assurance (QA) exercises to assess data comparability are rare.

Purpose:

The purpose of trawl sampling is to obtain data on the abundance, biomass, diversity, and disease prevalence of demersal fish and invertebrate assemblages. It is also used to collect fish and invertebrates for tissue contaminant analysis. This information is useful in characterizing possible anthropogenic effects on demersal fish and invertebrate populations.

Supplemental_Information:

Missing numerical values have been coded as -99 Missing text values have been coded as NR Missing date values have been coded as 01/Jan/1998 Missing time values have been coded as 23:00

Time_Period_of_Content:

Time_Period_Information:

Range_of_Dates/Times:

Beginning_Date: 19980709

Ending_Date: 19981015

Currentness_Reference: ground condition

Status:

Progress: Complete

Maintenance_and_Update_Frequency: None planned

Spatial_Domain:

Description_of_Geographic_Extent: Southern California Bight

Bounding_Coordinates:

West_Bounding_Coordinate: -120.49462

East_Bounding_Coordinate: -116.6375

North_Bounding_Coordinate: 34.459

South_Bounding_Coordinate: 31.7511

Keywords:

Theme:

Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: None

Theme_Keyword: Fish Abundance

Theme_Keyword: Size class

Access_Constraints: None

Use_Constraints: Dataset credit required

Point_of_Contact:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Person_Primary:

Contact_Person: Jim Allen

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: mailing address

Address: 3535 Harbor Blvd., Suite 110

City: Costa Mesa

State_or_Province: California

Postal_Code: 92626

Country: USA

Contact_Voice_Telephone: 714.755.3200

Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 714.438.1016

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: jima@sccwrp.org

Hours_of_Service: 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday Through Friday

Contact_Instructions: E-mail preferred

Data_Set_Credit: SCCWRP

Native_Data_Set_Environment: Microsoft Access Version 97

Cross_Reference:

Citation_Information:

Originator:

Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP)

Publication_Date: 20021221

Title: Bight'98 Survey

Edition: Version 1

Publication_Information:

Publication_Place: Costa Mesa, California

Publisher: SCCWRP

Online_Linkage: http://www.sccwrp.org/data/1998_bight_survey.html