VOLUME 51 DECEMBER 2010 California Cooperative oCeaniC fisheries investigations Reports VOLUME 51 JanUary 1 tO DEcEMbEr 31, 2010 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 John n. heine eDitor John n. heine this report is not copyrighted, except where otherwise indicated, and may be reproduced in other publications provided credit is given to California Cooperative oceanic fisheries investigations and to the author(s). inquiries concerning this report should be addressed to CalCofi Coordinator, scripps institution of oceanography, la Jolla, Ca 92038-0218. eDitorial BoarD John n. heine laura rogers-Bennett Printed and distributed December 2010, La Jolla, California ISSN 0575-3317 calcOFI rep., Vol. 51, 2010 cOntEntS I. Reports, Reviews, and Publications Report of the CalCOFI Committee . 5 Review of Selected California Fisheries for 2009: Coastal Pelagic Finfish, Market Squid, Red Abalone, Dungeness Crab, Pacific Herring, Groundfish/Nearshore Live-Fish, Highly Migratory Species, Kelp, California Halibut, and Sandbasses. Dale Sweetnam, editor . 14 State of the California Current 2009–2010: Regional variation persists through transition from La Niña to El Niño (and back?). Eric Bjorkstedt, Ralf Goericke, Sam McClatchie, Ed Weber, William Watson, Nancy Lo, Bill Peterson, Bob Emmett, Jay Peterson, Reginaldo Durazo, Gilberto Gaxiola-Castro, Francisco Chavez, J.T. Pennington, C.A. Collins, John Field, Steve Ralston, Keith Sakuma, Steven Bograd, Franklin Schwing, Yan Xue, William Sydeman, Sarah Ann Thompson, Jarrod A. Santora, John Largier, Chris Halle, Steven Morgan, Sung Yong Kim, Karlina Merkens, John Hildebrand, Lisa Munger . 39 Publications . 71 II. Symposium of the CalCOFI Conference, 2009 Symposium Introduction: Forecasting Fishery Productivity in the California Current. Laura Rogers-Bennett and J. Wilson White . 75 Bocaccionomics: The Effectiveness of Pre-Recruit Indices for Assessment and Management of Bocaccio. John C. Field, Alec D. MacCall, Stephen Ralston, Milton S. Love, Eric F. Miller . 77 Predictability of settlement of nearshore rockfishes (genus Sebastes) in central and southern California using simple proxies of ocean conditions. Jennifer E. Caselle, Mark H. Carr, Dan P. Malone, Jono R. Wilson, Dean E. Wendt . 91 Using Megalopae Abundance to Predict Future Commercial Catches of Dungeness Crabs (Cancer magister) in Oregon. Alan Shanks, G. Curtis Roegner, Jessica Miller . 106 Use of a Pre-Recruit Abundance Index to Improve Forecasts of Ocean Shrimp (Pandalus jordani) Recruitment from Environmental Models. Robert W. Hannah . 119 Incorporating Physical Oceanographic Proxies of Recruitment into Population Models to Improve Fishery and Marine Protected Area Management. J. Wilson White and Laura Rogers-Bennett . 128 III. Scientific Contributions Bioeconomic Assessment of the Red Spiny Lobster Fishery of Baja California, Mexico. Ernesto A. Chávez and Marisela Gorostieta . 153 Preliminary Study on the use of Polished Otoliths in the Age Determination of Pacific Sardine (Sardinops Sagax) in British Columbia Waters. Gordon McFarlane, Jake Schweigert, Vanessa Hodes, and Jackie Detering . 162 Diet Analysis of Pacific Sardine (Sardinops sagax) off the West Coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia from 1997 to 2008. Gordon McFarlane, Jake Schweigert, Jackie Detering and Vanessa Hodes . 169 Unprecedented Mortality of California Sea Lion Pups Associated with Anomalous Oceanographic Conditions along the Central California Coast in 2009. Sharon R. Melin, Anthony J. Orr, Jeffrey D. Harris, Jeffrey L. Laake, Robert L. Delong, Frances M. D. Gulland, and Shelbi Stoudt . 182 Checklist and Biogeography of Fishes from Guadalupe Island, Western Mexico. Héctor Reyes-Bonilla, Arturo Ayala-Bocos, Saúl González-Romero, Israel Sánchez-Alcántara, Mariana Walther Mendoza, Yuliana R. Bedolla-Guzmán, Arturo Ramírez-Valdez, Luis E. Calderon-Aguilera, and Nadia C. Olivares-Bañuelos . 195 Composition, Density and Biogeographic Affinities of the Rocky Intertidal Fishes on the Western Coast of the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. Gorgonio Ruiz-Campos, Salvador González-Guzmán, Arturo Ramírez-Valdéz, Adrián F. González-Acosta, José Luis Castro-Aguirre, and José De La Cruz-Agüero . 210 Instructions to Authors . 223 CalCOFI Basic Station Plan . inside back cover COmmITTee Report CalCOFI Rep., Vol. 51, 2010 Part I REPORTS, REVIEW, AND PUBLICATIONS REPORT OF THE CALCOFI COMMITTEE 2009 NOAA HIGHLIGHTS CalCOFI Cruises The beginning of the field season for CalCOFI’s 60th year saw the remnants of a weak La Niña condition which became ENSO-neutral by May of 2009. Neutral conditions were short lived as a weak El Niño system developed by July and persisted throughout the remain- der of 2009. The 2009 field season saw the successful completion of the standard quarterly surveys and the Pacific sardine (Sardinops sagax) biomass survey using a total of four research vessels but also was noted for sev- eral milestones. The field season of 2009 will be remembered for the final research cruise of the NOAA Ship David Starr Jor- Figure 1. NOAA Ship David Starr Jordan dan. Due to budget constraints, the Jordan was placed on limited operational status during 2008 which kept her in San Diego but sitting idle at the Nimitz Marine Facil- Commercial Fisheries. Ron was hired on to the original ity. By early 2009 it was decided that the ship would albacore group by Ron Lynn while he was still a student be moved up to Seattle, Washington, for storage until at San Diego State University. Ron played a vital part in a decommissioning date was determined. The spring the early albacore studies as well as the development of CalCOFI/sardine biomass survey was scheduled to go the early aerial spotter surveys and has been a mainstay out on the NOAA ship Miller Freeman but due to major within the CalCOFI program. Prior to Ron’s departure mechanical problems during the ship’s dry dock period he was tasked with one last responsibility: to develop the Freeman was unable to fulfill its obligations. In order and implement a marine mammal excluder device to to complete a spring CalCOFI survey, the Jordan was re- be installed in the Nordic 264 mid-water trawls used activated one last time in March 2009 for her final cruise. extensively by the Division for adult sardine assessments. The David Starr Jordan was built by the Christy Corpo- With the help of many people within NMFS and the ration in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, and launched in 1964 fishing industry, Ron was able to pull together a suc- for the U.S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries which later cessful, working system that was used throughout the became a part of NOAA as the National Marine Fish- 2009 field season without incident (this process pub- eries Service. Since her commissioning in 1966 in San lished in NOAA Tech. Memo. 455). Ron will surely be Diego, the Jordan has covered over 1.5 million nautical missed but we wish him only the best in his well earned miles. Many of those miles were earned during CalCOFI retirement. surveys so it seems fitting that the Jordan completed her Over the course of the 2009 calendar year a total long and successful life with one last CalCOFI survey. of five individual surveys (the four standard CalCOFI The Jordan now sits up in Lake Washington in Wash- surveys and one Daily Egg Production Method sur- ington State, and is scheduled to be decommissioned in vey) were completed using four different vessels: SIO’s early August 2010. R/V New Horizon, the NOAA Ship David Starr Jordan, The Ship Operations group at the Southwest Fisher- the NOAA Ship McArthur II, and the chartered fishing ies Science Center said goodbye to Ron Dotson as he vessel F/V Frosti. Throughout these combined surveys headed off into retirement starting in 2010. Ron caps a total of 656 Bongo samples, 318 Pairovet tows, 261 off an illustrious 39-year career with the Federal Gov- Manta tows, 404 CTD casts, and 1,127 CUFES sam- ernment which began back in 1970 with the Bureau of ples were collected. In addition, 59 surface trawls were 5 COmmITTee Report CalCOFI Rep., Vol. 51, 2010 conducted netting approximately 377 kilograms of adult mary will be available on the PaCOOS website. The and juvenile Pacific sardine for the annual spawning bio- final activity to highlight is the quarterly reporting of mass estimate. climate and ecosystem science and management activi- ties in the California Current that started as a pilot proj- CalCOFI Ichthyoplankton Update ect in 2008. The quarterlies are now a regular feature of The continuing SWFSC Ichthyoplankton Ecology the program and can also be accessed on the PaCOOS group projects to update larval fish identifications to website. current standards from 1951 to the present, and to iden- The 2010 plans for PaCOOS include continued tify eggs of Pacific whiting (hake) and jack and Pacific coordination with the Regional Associations on joint mackerels collected in the CalCOFI bongo net samples proposal development with an emphasis on data manage- are now complete from 1987 to the present for the eggs ment, ecological forecasting and assessment, and increas- and 1967 to the present for the larvae. ing ocean observing data when opportunities arise. Two Since 1997 we have identified market squid paralarvae assessments to highlight are: 1) the second annual ecosys- in all CalCOFI samples (since 1981 for surface samples), tem status