Watters and Dick: Length distributions of Sebastes spp. off central California 
293 
122.5° W 122° W 
The study area off central California with locations where transects of 
submersible surveys (black dots) and hauls of the Northwest Fisheries 
Science Center West Coast Bottom Trawl Survey (black crosses) were 
conducted from 2003 through 2009. Only transects and hauls with 
positive occurrence of one or more of the following 4 rockfish species 
at depths 55-326 m are shown: greenspotted rockfish (Sebastes chlo- 
rostictus), greenstriped rockfish (S. elongatus), vermilion rockfish (S. 
miniatus), and canary rockfish (S. pinniger). Depth contours are in 
meters. 
the submersible above the scientist’s viewport, recorded 
the view of the transect area and the scientist’s narra¬ 
tion. Two parallel lasers, spaced 20 cm apart on either 
side of the camera, aided estimates of fish lengths. A 
handheld sonar gun was used by the scientist to esti¬ 
mate and maintain the 2-m transect width. The time 
of each fish observation, along with counts and length 
estimates, was entered into a relational database dur¬ 
ing subsequent video analysis. 
The amount and type of seafloor habitat within each 
subsmersible transect were defined from a video review. 
Contiguous patches comprised primary (>50% of the 
area) and secondary (>20% of the area) habitat types 
delineated by time (at least a 3-s duration) along each 
transect. Habitat types were 1) high-relief rock outcrop 
(>1 m and <3 m in-place rock), pinnacle (>3 m, isolated 
rock outcrop) and boulder (>25 cm); and 2) low-relief 
cobble (>6 cm and <25 cm), flat rock, brachiopod bed, 
pebble (>2 cm and <6 cm), gravel (>4 mm and <2 cm), 
sand, and mud. The area of each habitat patch was 
estimated by multiplying the 2-m transect width by the 
patch length. We categorized these habitat patches as 
untrawlable or trawlable after consulting with scien¬ 
tists familiar with the trawl survey and our habitat 
