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Fishery Bulletin ]04(3) 



Figure 1 



Examples of young-of-the-year (YOY) and other juvenile 

 fishes found in high densities at platform Gilda, October 

 2003. (A) YOY bocaccio iSebastes paucispinis); (B) a YOY 

 lingcod iOphiodon elongatus); (C) one-year-old vermilion 

 rockfish iSebastes miiiiatus). 



fishes around a number of these platforms. Similar 

 high densities of young rockfishes were noted in the 

 late 1950s at two nearshore platforms off Santa 

 Barbara (Carlisle et al.. 1964). The densities of YOY 

 rockfishes are usually higher at platforms than at 

 most natural outcrops (Sehroeder et al., 2000; Love 

 et al., 2003). As on natural outcrops, however, YOY 

 rockfish recruitment to platforms is highly variable 

 from year to year. 



In 2003, while conducting fish surveys around 

 eight oil platforms in southern California, we ob- 

 served high densities of YOY rockfishes (e.g., bocac- 

 cio and widow rockfish), YOY lingcod (Ophiodon 

 elongatus), and one-year-old vermilion rockfish (S. 

 miniatus) (Fig. 1). Given the uncertainty regarding 

 the role that platforms might play as fish habitat, 

 we were interested in understanding how important 

 young bocaccio, and by extension the platforms, 

 might be to the stock and populations of this spe- 

 cies in the region. Because of the severely overfished 

 status of bocaccio and because a stock assessment 

 model had been developed by NOAA Fisheries, we 

 focused our attention on this species. 



Along the Pacific Coast of North America, bocaccio 

 have been reduced to about 7.4% of their unfished 

 population (MacCallM. Bocaccio are relatively long- 

 lived (to over 50 years) and have extremely variable 

 annual juvenile recruitment success; over natural 

 outcrops, large year classes are found about once a 

 decade (Tolimieri and Levin. 2005). YOY bocaccio 

 settle from a juvenile micronektonic stage to shallow 

 high-relief habitats (such as kelp beds) and usually 

 migrate into deeper waters within one year. Histori- 

 cally, the species was abundant from Oregon to at 

 least northern Baja California (Love et al., 2002). 



In this article we focus on the large recruitment 

 of YOY bocaccio observed at platforms in the Santa 

 Barbara Channel in 2003. We estimate the mini- 

 mum number of YOY bocaccio at eight platforms in 

 the Santa Barbara Channel, southern California, 

 and estimate the contribution these juveniles may 

 make (as surviving adults) to the rebuilding of the 

 overfished stock. We also compare the densities 

 of YOY bocaccio around the platforms with those 

 determined during the same year in studies on 

 natural reefs throughout southern, and parts of 

 central, California. 



Material and methods 



Between 10 and 15 October 2003, we surveyed the 

 jacket (horizontal beams and vertical supports) 



1 MacCall, A. D. 2003. Status of bocaccio off California 

 in 2003. In Status of the Pacific coast groundfish fish- 

 ery through 2003 stock assessment and fishery evalu- 

 ation (vol. II, v + 56 p. Pacific Fishery Management 

 Council, 7700 NE Ambassador Place, Suite 200, Portland, 

 OR 97220. 



