Reef Check kelp forest long-term MPA monitoring: fish data

Reef Check California (RCCA) fish surveys consist of visual surveys performed by scuba divers. At each site, buddy teams of divers conduct eighteen 30 m x 2 m benthic transects, to monitor key species of fish. Each site is divided into two "zones" by depth (shallow 5-12 meters and deep 12-18 meters - or from offshore to inshore at sites with little depth variation) to assure that samples are distributed across the face of a reef from inshore to offshore. Fish are identified to species, when possible their sex or live stage is recorded, and individual's total length is estimated to the nearest centimeter. The long-term California MPA boundary and project info tables referenced in this dataset can be found as a separate dataset here: https://opc.dataone.org/view/doi:10.25494/P6V884