Fish assemblages in southern California kelp forests.

This is a point file of fish assemblages calculated from diver surveys in kelp forests in Southern California. Visual census data was combined for two separate southern California datasets. The Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO) provided information collected at 15 sites, and Vantuna Research Group (VRG) at 29 sites. Visual transect surveys were completed by SCUBA divers along the bottom of the kelp forest. The VRG dataset provided fish counts along 2m x 60m transects which were subsequently averaged for comparison with the PISCO dataset. The PISCO dataset provided mean counts along a 2m x 30m transect which were doubled before combining with the VRG data. Fish that were not present in at least 5% of the trawls were removed from this analysis, resulting in a site by species matrix of 44 sites and 45 species. Site groups were calculated using the Bray-Curtis dissimilarity coefficient with average means clustering

Data were analyzed to provide fish assemblage information as part of a more comprehensive biogeographic analysis of resources within southern California and the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary.

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In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Marine Sanctuary Program will incorporatethis assessment with cultural and socio-economic analyses to prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement to fully analyze boundary change concepts.

These data were prepared by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, make any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference therein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. Any views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. Although all data have been used by NOAA, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by NOAA as to the accuracy of the data and/or related materials. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by NOAA in the use of these data or related materials.

The analytical results present in the report and in this shapefile are available as a download either from a CD-Rom or from the NCCOS/CCMA/Biogeography Branchs website. http://ccma.nos.noaa.gov/ecosystems/sanctuaries/chanisl_nms/; Contact Randy Clark (randy.clark@noaa.gov);

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Please reference report and source data.

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Microsoft Windows XP Version 5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 2; ESRI ArcCatalog 9.0.0.535

This data depicts fish assemblages in kelp forests in the region of southern California as part of a comprehensive biogeographic assessment for the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary.

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