slowly and does not appear to recruit 

 rapidly when completely removed from local 

 areas (Barilotti and Silverthorne 1972). 

 One company has recently leased a near- 

 shore area for the purpose of cultivating 

 G. robustum (Bowden 1981). 



6.2.2 Animal s 



6.2.2.1 Fishes . North (1971b) lists 

 37 species of fish (including "rockfish" 

 as one species) associated with kelp 

 forests that occur in the commercial and 

 party boat catch in California. Most of 

 these species are also caught in areas 

 without kelp forests, and catch statistics 

 are not reported specifically for kelp 

 communities. Thus, the catch and status 

 of stocks in kelp forests are uncertain. 

 North (1971b), using data from Davies 

 (1968) estimated that about 90% of the 

 "rockbass" (kelp bass plus sand bass) 

 catch for southern California came from 

 areas that included kelp forests, and that 

 about 70% of the entire party boat fish 

 catch came from areas with kelp. 



Drift kelp is probably an important 

 source of energy for communities other 

 than kelp forests, so kelp forests may 

 indirectly provide some of the energy base 

 for fisheries in other habitats (see 

 Chapters 3 and 4). Moreover, declines in 

 kelp production could ultimately be re- 

 flected in declines in nearshore fish 

 stocks, as has been suggested by studies 

 in Alaska (Estes et al . 1978). 



Miller and Geibel (1973) and Love 

 (1980) indicated that some fishes may 

 occur in local populations on particular 

 reefs, with little movement between reefs. 

 Thus, local areas may be subject to 

 overfishing. Miller and Geibel (1973) 

 recommended management by zonal opening 

 and closing in central California. 



Tegner (1980) suggested that sheep- 

 head have declined due to overfishing in 

 some southern California kelp forests, and 

 because these fishes eat sea urchins, the 

 declines may be partly responsible for 

 locally high urchin densities. Cowen's 

 (1983) experimental sheephead removal 

 supports this latter suggestion. 



Frey (1971) discussed the status of 

 other California fisheries, including 



algae and invertebrates, and makes a 

 number of management recommendations. The 

 catch of many species associated with kelp 

 forests is declining, and it is commonly 

 observed that large individuals have 

 become rare. This is particularly true of 

 Stereolepis gigas , the giant sea bass, in 

 southern California. This fish is occa- 

 sionally found in giant kelp forests, and 

 is listed as a megacarnivore by Quast 

 (1971a). Large individuals (over 150 kg 

 in weight and 2 m long) were once fairly 

 common and must have been an impressive 

 sight swimming through the kelp. Unfor- 

 tunately, recent divers have been denied 

 this experience as spear and hook-and-line 

 fishermen preyed heavily on these huge 

 (and perhaps over 90 years old; Frey 1971) 

 fish, and we could find no recent observa- 

 tions of such fish in kelp forests. 



6.2.2.2 Abalone . Abalone are the 

 only commerically fished mollusc in Cali- 

 fornia kelp forests. Animals are har- 

 vested by divers, and until recently, the 

 main species taken were red abalone ( Hal i - 

 otis rufescens ) and pink abalone (H. cor - 

 rugata ; see Section 4.4.3.2). In the peak 

 year of 1957, slightly over five million 

 pounds were landed (Cox 1962), which is 

 roughly a million and a half animals 

 (using an average conversion value of 1 

 doz. abalone = 40 lb.; see Cox 1962). 

 Total landings have declined by 'v 80% 

 since 1966 (Table 12), due to overfishing 

 (Tegner 1980), habitat loss, illegal 

 fishing, improper catch methods (Hardy et 

 al. 1982), and removal by sea otters 

 (Miller and Geibel 1973, Hardy et al. 

 1982). However, even though sea otter 

 foraging was highly correlated with the 

 decline in abalone stocks in the San Luis 

 Obispo area (Miller and Geibel 1973, Hardy 

 et al. 1982), this area contributed only 

 about 20% of the total California catch in 

 1968 (calculated from data in Heimann and 

 Carlisle 1970). Otter foraging in the San 

 Luis Obispo area began around 1970 (Hardy 

 et al. 1982). Thus, factors other than 

 sea otter foraging have had a great impact 

 on the statewide decline in the abalone 

 fishery noted above (see also Estes and 

 Van Blaricom in press). The less pre- 

 ferred, shallow-water black abalone (_H. 

 cracherodii ) now makes up the majority of 

 the catch (Table 12). 



Ill 



