Aerial Monitoring Program - Pilot Survey

An aerial monitoring program was conducted during the period 1962 - 2003 in cooperation with aerial spotters working for the commercial purse seine fleet. Flights were conducted throughout the year to estimate abundance of pelagic fishes off California and Baja California, Mexico. Measurements were recorded for each identifiable species in 10'-longitude by 10'-latitude blocks. Northern anchovy, (Engraulis mordax), Pacific sardine (Sardinops sagax), Pacific bonito (Sarda chiliensis), Pacific mackerel (Scomber japonicas), jack mackerel (Trachurus symmetricus) and Bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus orientalis) were the most commonly reported species.

To develop abundance indices for pelagic fishes along the coast of California and Baja California

There are 23,033 flights in the data set. The years 1962 and 2003 do not include data for the entire year. The last flight was conducted in July 2003.