This layer is intended to represent the geographic extent of NOAA Fisheries’ Rockfish Recruitment and Ecosystem Assessment Survey stations. The Rockfish Recruitment and Ecosystem Assessment Survey started in 1983 and is led by NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science Center. This survey is a long-term survey that estimates year-to-year variability in young-of-the-year (YOY) rockfish and other groundfish, as well as enumerates krill and many other forage fishes and invertebrates in the California Current. Key objectives include the development of recruitment indices of rockfish (and other groundfish) for use in stock assessments, informing oceanographic studies of groundfish recruitment processes, and supported a number of ecosystem studies, such as helping researchers understand how ecosystem shifts impact ocean biodiversity, seabird reproduction, unusual mortality events, and the rise of whale entanglements. The survey is conducted annually on a NOAA research vessel, in late Spring when most YOY groundfish are pelagic and vulnerable to the gear. Mid-water trawl sampling occurs at night, and samples not only rockfishes, but many additional species including gelatinous zooplankton, mesopelagic fishes, and forage species such as krill, market squid, anchovies, and sardines. The survey also includes conductivity, temperature, depth (CTD) casts to collect environmental data, quantitative marine mammal and seabird observations, fisheries acoustics data collection, and sample collection for collaborative research activities, including eDNA, stable isotopes, and age and growth studies.

In 1983, the Groundfish Analysis Team began a series of annual surveys designed to assess the recruitment strength of juvenile rockfish and various economically and ecologically important species, and to examine the general state of the ecosystem and its variability along the central California coast. Midwater trawls were conducted and CTDs performed during late spring every year since 1983. Initially the survey area was Monterey to Point Reyes; however, in 2004 the geographic range was extended to San Diego through Mendocino.

The Fisheries Ecology Division (FED, https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/west-coast/science-data/molecular-ecology-and-genetic-analysis-california-salmon-and-groundfish) of the Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) has conducted a midwater trawl survey off central California since 1983 with the primary goal of developing pre-recruit indices for young-of-the-year (YOY) rockfish (Sebastes spp.). The survey also samples numerous other components of the epipelagic micronekton, including other YOY groundfish (such as Pacific hake, Merluccius productus, and sanddab, Citharichthys spp ), coastal pelagic fishes (such as Pacific sardine, Sardinops sagax, and northern anchovy, Engraulis mordax) and other forage species. Additional details regarding the survey methods and results are described in Ralston et al. (2015) and Sakuma et al. (http://calcofi.org/publications/calcofireports/v57/Vol57-Sakuma_pages.163-183.pdf). Ralston, S., J.C. Field and K.S. Sakuma. 2015. Longterm variation in a central California pelagic forage assemblage. Journal of Marine Systems 146: 26-37. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmarsys.2014.06.013. Sakuma, K.M., J.C. Field, B.B. Marinovic, C.N. Carrion, N.J. Mantua and S. Ralston. In revision. Anomalous epipelagic micronekton assemblage patterns in the neritic waters of the California Current in spring 2015 during a period of extreme ocean conditions. CalCOFI Reports.

Juvenile rockfish were observed amongst coral, sponge, cobble, and gravel habitats. Rockfish utilized coral habitats more than any other, while gravel was the least utilized. Sponge and cobble habitat utilization was intermediate to coral and gravel. Predation of young-of-the-year rockfish by sculpin predators was greatest in gravel habitats and lowest in coral habitats.

This layer is intended to represent the geographic extent of NOAA Fisheries’ Southern California Shelf Rockfish Hook and Line Survey. The Southern California Shelf Rockfish Hook and Line Survey started in 2003 and is led by NMFS Northwest Fisheries Science Center. This survey samples ecologically and economically important shelf rockfish species over untrawlable habitats in the Southern California Bight. The survey is a cooperative effort between NOAA Fisheries, Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, and the Southern California sportfishing industry to develop fishery-independent time series of abundance and biological data for use in stock assessments for tens of groundfish species in the region. NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center partners with the sportfishing fleet to sample over 200 locations annually. Survey biologists collect information about the abundance, biology, ecology, and genetics of species to support research into cryptic species, population structure, and eDNA applications. Oceanographic data profiles are also generated for each site visited.

This layer is intended to represent information collected during NOAA Fisheries’ California Current Ecosystem Survey. The California Current Ecosystem Survey started in 2006 and is led by NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science Center. This survey monitors West Coast coastal pelagic fish species (CPS) including the northern and central sub-populations of Northern Anchovy, the northern subpopulation of Pacific Sardine, Jack Mackerel, Pacific Mackerel, Pacific Herring, their prey items, and the biotic and abiotic environments of the California Current Ecosystem. These data are used to estimate the distribution, biomass, and demographics of species of interest to inform stock assessments. The CCES survey typically occurs annually between July and September on the West Coast of the U.S. and Canada, with a recent expansion into Mexico thanks to a collaboration with the Instituto Mexicano Investigación en Pesca y Acuacultura Sustentables (IMIPAS, formerly INAPESCA). During the day multifrequency, scientific echosounders, a continuous underway fish egg sampler (CUFES), and an underway conductivity-temperature-depth (UCTD) probe are all used to collect data. At night, surface trawls are conducted in locations where coastal pelagic species were observed acoustically during the day. The trawls serve to estimate the species composition and demographics of the fishes sampled acoustically during the day. In recent years, sampling from NOAA ships has been augmented with acoustic sampling by unmanned surface vehicles (Saildrone USVs), and with acoustic and purse-seine sampling from industry fishing vessels off WA, OR, and CA. The sampling from fishing vessels expands the survey into areas that are inhabited by CPS but are too shallow for the NOAA ships to safely navigate.

This layer is intended to represent the geographic extent of NOAA Fisheries’ Juvenile Salmon and Ocean Ecosystem Survey stations. The Juvenile Salmon and Ocean Ecosystem Survey (JSOES) started in 1998 and is led by NMFS Northwest Fisheries Science Center. This survey is the longest running salmon survey on the U.S. West Coast. The primary goal of our work is to develop a mechanistic understanding of how trophic dynamics and conditions in the ocean and Columbia River plume affect survival of juvenile salmonids. JSOES collects juvenile salmon and other open-ocean animals which allows identification of shifts in abundance, distribution, and growth/condition of migrating juvenile salmon. JSOES has demonstrated correlations between ocean conditions and the distribution, abundance, and survival of juvenile Columbia River salmon in the Northern California Current nearshore ecosystem to provide context for efforts by states, tribes, and others to restore and enhance salmon production. The samples from this survey improve salmon forecasts in a quantitative rather than qualitative manner, and decouple the effects of mitigation efforts in the freshwater environment from the effects of a changing ocean environment. The survey is conducted two times a year (late May and late June) for roughly ten days each. This study utilizes a surface trawl. A surface trawl collects juvenile salmon and other open-ocean animals during sampling.

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The Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC) conducts a comprehensive groundfish bottom trawl survey encompassing the U.S. West Coast between the borders with Canada and Mexico (Keller et al. 2008) and water depths of 50 to 1280 meters. This survey was not designed to quantitatively sample the young-of-the-year (YOY) life history stage. Since 1996, the Zooplankton Program at the NWFSC has conducted biweekly hydrography and plankton cruises along the Newport Hydrographic line (NH-Line) across the central Oregon shelf (44.67N) (e.g., Peterson and Keister 2003, Peterson 2009). On each cruise, hydrographic measurements and zooplankton samples are collected at stations ranging from 1 to 25 miles from shore. These zooplankton cruises build on and complement a broad range of historic and ongoing oceanographic sampling focused on the NH-Line. For FY11, the NWFSC received Cooperative Research funding to conduct a seasonal fishing vessel-based survey of young-of-the-year (YOY) groundfishes along the NH-Line synoptically with the Zooplankton Labs plankton/physical oceanography sampling program. The YOY groundfish, ichthyoplnakton and zoopplankton work are, in part, operating as a cooperative survey of pelagic and demersal habitats within the northern California Current,. The database stores data from ongoing field collections made by the OSU Fisheries Oceanography Research Team in collaboration with NOAA Fisheries. Field activities include plankton tows, benthic beam trawls, water column hydrographic profiles, and in-situ video observations of fish behavior.

This layer is intended to represent the geographic extent of NOAA Fisheries’ Northern California Current Ecosystem Survey stations. The Northern California Current Ecosystem Surveys started in 1996 and is led by NMFS Northwest Fisheries Science Center. These surveys expand the biophysical sampling conducted along the Newport Line out to the edge of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. These surveys help us understand lower trophic level responses to environmental variability across the Pacific Northwest and California Current ecosystem. We also incorporate information on the abundance and distribution of mid-trophic level nekton, marine mammals, and birds. These samples inform broad-scale analyses of hydrography, phytoplankton, zooplankton, larval and juvenile fish, and ocean acidification and hypoxia. This survey is also part of a larger collaboration with Oregon State University researchers studying the marine biodiversity and size structure across broad spatial scales in the northern California Current. The Northern California Current Ecosystem Survey samples seasonally from northern Washington to the Oregon/California border, and offshore to 200 nautical miles off Newport, Oregon and 150 nautical miles off Crescent City, California on the NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada. Seasonal sampling efforts include CTD, acoustic transects, zooplankton, ichthyoplankton, and macro-plankton sampling via bongo and Methot nets, as well as midwater and beam trawls.