Reef Check Citizen Science Monitoring of Kelp Forest Ecosystem in California's Marine Protected Area Network

The Reef Check Foundation’s California program (RCCA), trains, tests and certifies experienced recreational scuba divers to collect scientifically robust survey data on rocky reef species. RCCA’s monitoring program gathers economically and ecologically important data, and educates the public about scientific methods and environmental stewardship. RCCA conducts surveys at its long-term monitoring sites ranging along the California coast from San Diego in the south to the Oregon border in the north. Many of these sites have been surveyed since 2006 or 2007 in order to track marine life populations and prior to and after the establishment of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Subtidal community surveys are conducted annually at sites during the summer or early fall, and quantify substrate type and relief, benthic cover, abundance of 82 species or higher taxonomic groups of macroalgae, invertebrates, and fishes. Spatial allocation of sampling is designed to measure year-to-year site-wide variability in species abundances and community structure. A site is defined as a fixed stretch of coastline, occupying approximately 250m. Each site is comprised of six core transects along which fish, invertebrate, algae and substrate are sampled and 12 additional fish transects. Transects are stratified across the two depth zones and fish transects are placed around the core transects. Sampling consists of visual surveys by scuba divers that record the number of individuals and in some cases size of ecologically or economically important species along the seafloor.