Love et al Potential use of offshore marine structures in rebuilding an overfished rockfish species 



389 



I I I I I I I 



10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 



Estimated total length (cm) 



rr 



65 70 



Figure 4 



Size-frequency histogram of all bocaccio iSebastes paucispi- 

 nis) observed in all depths at Platform Gail from the research 

 submersible Delta, 1995 to 2004. A relatively strong year class 

 recruited in 1999 to the platform midwaters. We observed 

 these fishes at the bottom in 2000 and they remained there 

 through 2004. The near cessation of growth of these fishes 

 between 2003 and 2004 approximates the size at which 1009f 

 of the fish are mature (Love et al., 2002). 



spatial structure in driving marine population dynam- 

 ics, where a small amount of nursery habitat, either 

 human-made or natural, may disproportionately im- 

 pact a widely distributed species. It also highlights the 

 importance of understanding the potential role of any 

 marine habitat before that habitat is altered, either 

 purposefully or unintentionally. 



Acknowledgments 



This research was funded by the Biological Resources 

 Division, U. S. Geological Survey (National Offshore 

 Environmental Studies Program 1445-CA-0995-0386) 

 based on an information need identified by the Miner- 

 als Management Service's Pacific OCS Regions, and 

 by the California Artificial Reef Enhancement Pro- 

 gram (CARE). We thank Jay Carroll, Matt Craig, David 



Huang, David Kushner, Brent Mardian, Dan Pon- 

 della, and Dan Reed for sharing their fish survey 

 data with us. We thank the pilots of the submersible 

 Delta, Chris Ijames, Joe Lily, and Dave Slater, for 

 their very professional handling of the technical 

 aspects of that survey, as well as the crews of the 

 RV Cavalier and RV Valero. Linda Snook managed 

 the survey data. 



Literature cited 



Bohnsack, J. A., D. E. Harper, D. B. McClellan, and M. 

 Hulsbeck. 



1994. Effects of reef size on colonization and assem- 

 blage structure of fishes at artificial reefs off east- 

 ern Florida, USA. Bull. Mar. Sci. 55:796-823. 

 Carlisle, J. G., Jr., C. H. Turner, and E. E. Ebert. 



1964. Artificial habitat in the marine environ- 

 ment. Calif. Dep. Fish Game, Fish Bull. 124, 

 93 p. 

 Carr, M. H., and M. A. Hixon. 



1997. Artificial reefs: the importance of comparisons 

 with natural reefs. Fisheries 22(4):28-33. 

 Emery, B. M., L. Washburn. M. Love, M. M. Nishimoto, and 

 J. C. Ohlmann. 



2006. Do oil and gas platforms off California reduce 

 recruitment of bocaccio iSebastes paucispiiiis) to 

 natural habitat? An analysis based on trajectories 

 derived from high frequency radar. Fish. Bull. 

 104:391-400. 

 Hartman, A. R. 



1987. Movement of scorpionfishes (Scorpaenidae; 

 Sebastes and Scorpaena) in the Southern California 

 Bight. Calif. Fish Game 73:68-79. 

 Hixon, M. A., and J. P. Beets. 



1993. Predation, prey refuges, and the structure 

 of coral-reef fish assemblages. Ecol. Monogr. 

 63(1):77-101. 

 Love, M. S., J. E. Caselle, and L. Snook. 



1999. Fish assemblages on mussel mounds sur- 

 rounding seven oil platforms in the Santa Barbara 

 Channel and Santa Maria Basin. Bull. Mar. Sci. 

 65:497-513. 



Love, M. S., J. E. Caselle, and L. Snook. 



2000. Fish assemblages around seven oil plat- 

 forms in the Santa Barbara Channel area. Fish. 

 Bull. 98:96-117. 



Love, M. S., M. Yoklavich, and L. Thorsteinson. 



2002. The rockfishes of the Northeast Pacific, 405 

 p. Univ. California Press, Berkeley, CA. 



Love, M. S., D. M. Schroeder, and M. M. Nishimoto. 



2003. The ecological role of oil and gas production plat- 

 forms and natural outcrops on fishes in southern and 

 central California: a synthesis of information. LT.S. Dep. 

 Int., Minerals Management Service (MMS), Outer Con- 

 tinental Shelf (OCS) Study MMS 2003-032, 127 p. 



Nishimoto, M. N., L. Washburn, M. S. Love, D. Schroeder, and 

 B. Emery. 



2005. Is the delivery of juvenile fishes settling on offshore 

 platforms linked to transport by ocean currents? Ab- 

 stract in 8"' international conference on artificial reefs 

 and artificial habitats, Biloxi, MS, p. 46. 

 Pickering, H., and D. Whitmarsh. 



1997. Artificial reefs and fisheries exploitation: a review 



