Final technical report - monitoring MPAs by SCUBA in waters off Central California

In September 2007, upon implementation of the first Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) MPA network on the central California coast (Pigeon Point to Point Conception), and with funding from the California Ocean Protection Council administered by California Sea Grant, the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO) initiated base-line surveys to monitor these MPAs. Of the 29 MPAs established in the Central Coast Study Region (CCSR), 17 MPAs contain kelp and 14 can be safely sampled using SCUBA. The baseline surveys focused on both subtidal and intertidal systems for the central coast, characterizing ecosystem attributes such as biodiversity, community structure, and population abundance and size structure. Baseline surveys were conducted in both 2007 and 2008. By monitoring these ecosystem attributes, scientists can make comparisons inside vs. outside MPAs, track changes in ecosystem attributes over time, and evaluate if MPAs are having the desired results. This report describes patterns in MLPA state marine reserves (SMR) generated from the first 2 years of baseline data collected; SMRs are one type of MPA that provides protection from all forms of fishing and resource extraction. This project represents the most extensive ecological surveys to date of kelp forests along the central coast of California.