CALIFORNIA COOPERATIVE OCEANIC FISHERIES INVESTIGATIONS Reports VOLUME 43 1 January to 31 December 2001 Cooperating Agencies: CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SCRIPPS INSTITUTION OF OCEANOGRAPHY NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE CALCOFI COORDINATOR Kevin Hill EDITOR Joni Harlan This report is not copyrighted, except where otherwise indicated, and may be reproduced in other publications provided credit is given to the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations and to the author(s). Inquiries con- cerning this report should be addressed to CalCOFI Coordinator, 8604 La Jolla Shores Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037-1508. EDITORIAL BOARD Laura Rogers-Bennett Michael Tillman Elizabeth Venrick Printed and distributed May 2003, La Jolla, California ISSN 0575-3317 CalCOFI Rep., Vol. 43, 2002 CONTENTS In Memoriam Mia Jean Tegner . 5 I. Reports, Review, and Publications Report of the CalCOFI Committee . 9 Review of Some California Fisheries for 2001: Market Squid, Sea Urchin, Dungeness Crab, Lobster, Prawn, Abalone, Groundfish, Swordfish and Shark, Coastal Pelagic Finfish, Ocean Salmon, Nearshore Live-Fish, Pacific Herring, White Seabass, and Kelp . 13 The State of the California Current, 2001–2002: Will the California Current System Keep Its Cool, or Is El Niño Looming? Franklin B. Schwing , Steven J. Bograd, Curtis A. Collins, Gilberto Gaxiola-Castro, Joaquin García, Ralf Goericke, José Goméz-Valdéz, Adriana Huyer, K. David Hyrenbach, P. Michael Kosro, Bertha E. Lavaniegos, Ronald J. Lynn, Arnold W. Mantyla, Mark D. Ohman, William T. Peterson, Robert L. Smith, William J. Sydeman, Elizabeth Venrick, and Patricia A. Wheeler . 31 Publications . 69 II. Symposium of the CalCOFI Conference, 2001 REBUILDING CALIFORNIA’S ABALONE STOCKS . .71 The Warm and the Cold: Influence of Temperature and Fishing on Local Population Dynamics of Red Abalone. Alistair J. Hobday and Mia J. Tegner . 74 Estimating Baseline Abundances of Abalone in California for Restoration. Laura Rogers-Bennett, Peter L. Haaker, Tonya O. Huff, and Paul K. Dayton . 97 Withering Syndrome and Restoration of Southern California Abalone Populations. James D. Moore, Carl A. Finley, Thea T. Robbins, and Carolyn S. Friedman . 112 III. Scientific Contributions Deepwater Habitat and Fish Resources Associated with the Big Creek Marine Ecological Reserve. Mary Yoklavich, Gregor Cailliet, Robert N. Lea, H. Gary Greene, Rick Starr, Jean de Marignac, and Jeff Field . 120 Distributions of Planktonic Fish Eggs and Larvae off Two State Ecological Reserves in the Santa Barbara Channel Vicinity and Two Nearby Islands in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, California. William Watson, Richard L. Charter, H. Geoffrey Moser, David A. Ambrose, Sharon R. Charter, Elaine M. Sandknop, Larry L. Robertson, and Eric A. Lynn . 141 The Color Signature of the Ensenada Front and Its Seasonal and Interannual Variability. Eduardo Santamaria-del-Angel, Roberto Millan-Nuñez, Adriana Gonzalez-Silvera, and Frank Müller-Karger . 155 Comparative Zooplankton Sampling Efficiency of a Ring Net and Bongo Net with Comments on Pooling of Subsamples. Mark D. Ohman and Bertha E. Lavaniegos . 162 The Reproductive Pattern of Barred Sand Bass (Paralabrax nebulifer) from Southern California. Cheryl Baca Hovey, Larry G. Allen, and Timothy E. Hovey . 174 Recreational Fishing and Marine Fish Populations in California. Donna M. Schroeder and Milton S. Love . 182 Instructions to Authors . 191 CalCOFI Basic Station Plan . inside back cover Indexed in Current Contents. Abstracted in Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts and Oceanic Abstracts. IN MEMORIAM CalCOFI Rep., Vol. 43, 2002 IN MEMORIAM MIA JEAN TEGNER 1947–2001 On 7 January 2001 Mia Jean Tegner died in a scuba- Mia’s research focused on abalone, sea urchins, and diving accident while working in the kelp forests off San the kelp forest communities off southern California. She Diego, California. She died at the height of her career, examined the role of environmental variability on fish- doing what she loved best. We lost not only a good eries and kelp forest productivity. Through her creativ- friend and colleague but also a powerful champion for ity and scientific rigor, she was able to detect the impacts marine conservation. of interdecadal shifts in ocean climate. She helped to Mia had a genuine, abiding passion for marine ecol- convince us all of the importance of episodic El Niño ogy, so it may come as a surprise that she received her events on the structure of kelp communities. Mia did Ph.D. in molecular biology. She traded a postdoc in mol- not distinguish between basic and applied research. She ecular biology for another one to study sea urchin ecol- studied what she thought was important and made sure ogy with Paul Dayton. It was, like so much of what she it met the most rigorous scientific standards. Her re- did, a gutsy move. Lucky for us she did change fields search highlighted the importance of the health of and was so very good at marine ecology. Her scientific nearshore kelp forests. During her 30 years at Scripps excellence was apparent early in her career when she Institution of Oceanography, Mia developed a strong re- published in such prestigious journals as Nature and Science. search program, publishing more than 70 papers, sym- posia contributions, and book chapters. Her work helped us change our perspective on the marine environment; what we once thought of as a vast, boundless ocean has now become recognized as a fragile ecosystem in need of conservation. Mia’s work gave us a framework for restoring popu- lations and ecosystems. It is an exceptionally difficult task to determine just how many lobsters the kelp for- est once harbored. Mia, in collaboration with Paul, pro- duced seminal work in historical ecology, quantifying how baseline abundances have changed over time. She then took the first steps toward abalone restoration when she co-authored the federal status review of white abalone. As a result of these efforts, white abalone be- came the first marine invertebrate to be listed as an en- dangered species. Her work earned her fellowships in the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the prestigious Pew Marine Conservation Program. The fact that she was in the middle of her Pew research examining the impacts of ocean conditions on abalone productivity when she died is one of the many reasons we have taken her death so hard. Mia was an academic, though no one considered her meek or cloistered away in an ivory tower. She worked closely with natural resource managers and policymak- ers to sustain California’s marine resources and was often quoted by the press. She had a grittiness to her core, and a fierce determination that served her well when deal- ing with controversial issues such as San Diego waste- water treatment, abalone conservation, and marine Mia Tegner, 1975. reserves. With over 4,000 hours of bottom time she was 5 IN MEMORIAM CalCOFI Rep., Vol. 43, 2002 Baja Wreck, 1976. Photo by Eric Hanauer. an exceptional diver, some might say (I would say) a marine conservation. Over the years I would stop in on macho diver. Perhaps as a consequence of her extensive her whenever I was in La Jolla, asking her advice, drop- first-hand experience underwater, her abilities as a sci- ping off copies of my latest papers, or inviting her to entist, and her love of people, she could converse with give seminars. I spent a week with Mia in South Africa, anyone interested in the ocean, whether scientist, politi- listening to abalone talks during the day and eating and cian, or fisher. Mia’s passion for her work was conta- talking with friends in the evenings. What could be bet- gious, and often whatever Mia thought was important ter? We visited the diverse intertidal zone where the became the central topic of the panel discussions she Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. We had a standing in- participated in. Her work gained her worldwide atten- vitation to dive each others’ sites: hers in the Point Loma tion, and her love of travel meant that she and her hus- kelp beds and mine in the Bodega Marine Life Refuge. band Eric were frequently invited to wonderful and But in the end we never got the chance. I know that exotic places. Such a blend of passion, courage, scien- when I do finally get to dive with her, she will have fig- tific excellence, honesty, and integrity is extremely rare ured out all the best dive spots and will reveal the se- and will be sorely missed. crets of the kelp beds. I only hope that in the meantime, Over the years Mia and I became friends. We first we will be wise enough to take Mia’s advice and pro- met in 1986 when I was a graduate student. I had read tect our ocean’s treasures. all her papers and we began to correspond about our overlapping interests in sea urchins, abalone, diving, and Laura Rogers-Bennett 6 IN MEMORIAM CalCOFI Rep., Vol. 43, 2002 The Abalone Song The poet George Sterling and his wife, Carrie Sterling, OH! Some like ham and some like jam wrote The Abalone Song in the early 1900s while they And some like macaroni were living in the artist colony of Carmel. The Sterlings, But bring me in a pail of gin with the likes of Jack London and Jimmy Hopper, feasted And a tub of abalone. on California’s prime delicacy around a roaring fire on the beach at Point Lobos or at the Café Ernest at the He hides in caves beneath the waves foot of Fisherman’s Wharf. Adding verses to the abalone His ancient patrimony song, sung to the tune of “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” has And so ‘tis shown that faith alone become a tradition among the family of researchers who Reveals the abalone.