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Aerial Survey Methods
What
- Boat based and aerial surveys used to document the position and disposition of fishing vessels throughout the Southern California Bight to create a fishery independent dataset on the position of fishing vessels in the region.
- Fishing activity, combined with GPS locations is a valuable tool for identifying popular recreational and commercial fishing areas to consider when designing a network of marine protected areas (MPAs).
Where
- The southern California Bight was divided into two sections or transects: Los Angeles north to Point Conception and Los Angeles south to the U.S. Border (mainland only). Each flight covered either the northern or southern transect.
- The locations of all vessels were marked using GPS equipment and by flying directly overhead marine vessels. Vessels recorded were limited to state waters for direct application to the MLPA process.
How
- Aerial surveys recorded the types of boats and their activity in state waters. All boats (commercial fishing, commercial non-fishing and recreational) and their activities (fishing, not fishing, underway and other) are mapped using GPS positioning and GIS mapping techniques. To clarify, commercial non-fishing vessels are those commercial vessels that do not have a fishing purpose, such as a tug boat or oil tender.
- The altitude range flown during each transect was between 500 - 1000 feet above sea level. The relatively low altitude was necessary to identify the vessel type and activity.
When
- The flight dates were randomly selected. Two flights per month were scheduled for weekdays, weekends, and holidays.
- The transects were consistently flown in late morning (10am to 12pm) to allow fog to clear and observation of vessels possible.
- To date we have conducted 10 complete transects (Pt. conception to US/Mexican border).
- All data is scrutinized through Quality Assurance and Quality Control Protocols
- Photographs also used to aid in Quality Assurance
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