Nearshore Benthic Habitat GIS for the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and Southern California State Fisheries Reserves Volume 1

The nearshore benthic habitat of the Santa Barbara coast and Channel Islands
supports diverse marine life that is commercially, recreationally, and
intrinsically valuable. Some of these resources are known to be endangered
including a variety of rockfish and the white abalone. Agencies of the state of
California and the United States have been mandated to preserve and enhance
these resources. Data from sidescan sonar, bathymetry, video and dive
observations, and physical samples are consolidated in a geographic information
system (GIS). The GIS provides researchers and policymakers a view of the
relationship among data sets to assist scienctific research and to help with
economic and social policy-making decisions regarding this protected
environment.

[Summary provided by the USGS.]