California Department of Fish and Game 20050101 vector digital data http://bios.dfg.ca.gov ftp://ftp.dfg.ca.gov/BDB/GIS/BIOS/Public_Datasets/100_199/ds106.zip In May of 2001, the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) conducted an aerial photographic survey of the California coast and the offshore Channel Islands to obtain a minimum estimate of the population of harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardsi) living in California. The developed photographs were examined to count the number of harbor seals present and determine the location of each haul-out site by comparison to photos taken in previous surveys. This survey was successful in obtaining nearly complete coverage of all known haul-out areas. The 1995 survey was the last complete coverage. The total county for 2001 is 12,312 harbor seals. This result is the lowest ever recorded by CDFG for a combined count of the mainland and all offshore islands. The California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) conducted two surveys in 2002 in an attempt to provide better coverage and to lessen the chances of weather related problems. A total of 16 days were scheduled for aerial surveys from May 19 to July 19, 2002. Total count for Survey 1 was 10,541 harbor seals, while that for Survey 2 was 8,374 harbor seals. Camera problems that produced un-readable film and poor weather conditions prevented a complete assessment by either survey. The lack of complete coverage by either Survey 1 or 2 limited the total number of harbor seals counted. This is especially true in areas where past surveys revealed high concentrations of seals such as the northern Channel Islands and Point Reyes - Sonoma County coast. The California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) conducted two aerial surveys in 2003 in an attempt to provide better coverage and to lessen the chances of weather related problems. A total of 20 days were scheduled for aerial surveys from May 25 to July 20, 2003. Complete coverage was achieved in both surveys. This was the first time CDFG conducted these surveys using a digital imaging camera. Total count for Survey 1 was 17,415, while that for Survey 2 was 17,778 harbor seals. The purpose of this project is to survey the abundance and distribution of harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardsi) at all known haul-out sites in California coastal waters and offshore islands during the peak of the molt cycle. CDFG has monitored the numbers of harbor seals on the mainland coast of California, as well as offshore islands during the peak of their molting season since the early 1980s. Funding from the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission allowed CDFG to continue that effort. CDFG has used a single survey to census harbor seals along the California coastline and offshore islands since 1982. Because of unexpected low counts for the 2001 survey, a workshop was convened to review methodologies and to make recommendations for future surveys. The West Coast Harbor Seal Abundance Workshop was held March 28-29, 2002 at the NOAA/NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla (Barlow 2002). The workshop participants concluded that the 2001 survey was most likely scheduled too early and missed the peak molt period. Recommendations for the 2002 survey included: 1) splitting the survey into a southern California section (Channel Islands and the southern central coast to Point Sur) and a northern California section (the northern central coast and remainder of California north coast), 2) conducting the southern section in May or June and the northern section in July to more closely follow the peak molt period. 3) surveying the Channel Islands in the afternoon may be more important than tidal stage, and 4) conducting two surveys in an attempt to provide better coverage and to lessen the chances of weather related problems. The protocol used for this survey was essentially the same as that originally developed by Miller et al (1983), and last reported in Fluharty (1999). We have added our own improvements by taking advantage of new technology. The mainland coast as well as the Channel Islands were surveyed using the Department's twin engine, high wing Partenavia P68 "Observer ll" aircraft. This aircraft is equipped with a large photographic-observation port located in the floor of the aircraft behind the pilot's and copilot's seats. Use of this port enabled the photographer to locate and identify harbor seals and photograph them from directly overhead. The survey was conducted from an altitude of 600 to 700 feet, with an average altitude of 650 feet, depending on visibility and other conditions. In 2001 Color photographs were taken using a motor-driven Hasselblad 2003 FCW camera, Zeiss F3.5 100mm lens and large capacity film magazines containing 70mm Kodak E100S Ektachrome Professional film. In 2003 color digital images were taken using a Nikon D1x 6.3 Mg pixel computerized camera, Nikkor 28mm - 70 mm Auto-Focus lens, 1 Gb Compact Flash memory drives and "realtime" GPS interface from a Garmin 12XL portable unit (the Nikon digital system encoded all parameters of the exposure settings and time - geographic coordinates onto the digital image). The survey team consisted of a warden pilot, a data recorder and a photographer. Preliminary in-flight haul-out site identification was accomplished using a Garmin 12 channel portable GPS receiver pre-loaded with the coordinates of known haul-out sites, as well as topographic survey maps labeled with known sites. For 2001 harbor seals were identified and enumerated from processed photographs using a Nikon binocular dissecting microscope, 10x hand-held film viewer over a Bausch and Lomb "corrected" light table. Haul-out sites were positively identified by comparison with photographs taken in previous surveys and by position notes taken in-flight. For 2003 harbor seals were identified and enumerated from the images using Nikon "View" and "Edit" computer software. Some sites were positively identified by comparison with photographs taken in previous surveys. For 2001, the aerial photographic surveys were scheduled and flown on May 1, 2, and 3 for the Channel Islands, and on May 14-17 for the mainland. The mainland survey started at Point Mugu and finished at the Oregon border. All areas of San Francisco Bay and all major rivers and bay were covered. Approximately 30 miles of coastline north of Santa Cruz and just south of Half Moon Bay were not covered due to low lying coastal fog. We tried to re-survey that area later in the day, but the fog was still present. The mainland survey was completed in four days without further incident. Weather, visibility and tidal conditions were optimal over most of the survey period. Ground counts were obtained for Children's Pool and Seal Rock in La Jolla, San Diego County just prior to the mainland aerial survey. We requested and obtained ground counts for the Farallon Islands for the time period of the mainland survey. For 2002 the survey was conducted form May 19 through July 19. For 2003 the survey was conducted May 25 through July 20. 20010101 20030101 ground condition Complete Annually -124.514073 -116.925231 42.008972 32.756047 None abundance mammal harbor seal trend distribution haul-out monitoring Phoca vitulina population ISO 19115 Topic Category oceans environment biota None coastal California None None California Department of Fish and Game, Marine Region Robert B. Read Associate Biologist mailing and physical

4949 Viewridge Avenue

San Diego CA 92123 US 858 467-4213 858 467-4299 rread@dfg.ca.gov Microsoft Windows 7 Version 6.1 (Build 7601) Service Pack 1; Esri ArcGIS 10.3.1.4959 Fluharty, M.J. 1999 19990101 The protocol used for this survey was essentially the same as that originally developed by Miller et al (1983), and last reported in Fluharty (1999). We have added improvements by taking advantage of new technology. The mainland coast and the Channel Islands were surveyed using the Department's twin engine, high-wing Partenavia P68 "Observer ll" aircraft. This aircraft is equipped with a large photographic-observation port located in the floor of the aircraft behind the pilot's and copilot's seats. Use of this port enabled the photographer to locate and identify harbor seals and photograph them from directly overhead. The survey was conducted from an altitude of 600 to 700 feet, with an average altitude of 650 feet, depending on visibility and other conditions. Color photographs were taken using a motor-driven Hasselblad 2003 FCW camera, Zeiss F3.5 100mm lens and large capacity film magazines containing 70mm Kodak E100S Ektachrome film. The survey team consisted of a warden pilot, a data recorder and a photographer. We employed a new computer-driven technology that provided an exact time and position for each release of the camera film advance trigger. This was accomplished using GSTRIG - Ground Speed Camera Trigger software by Compix on a DOS - based laptop computer connected to a channel GPS unit. A wireless remote sensor interfaced with the camera flash synch port and triggered another remote attached to the computer's I/O port. As a backup measure, the coordinates of known haul-out sites were pre-loaded into a GPS unit and we carried topographic maps labeled with known sites. Harbor seals were identified and enumerated from processed photographs using a Nikon binocular dissecting microscope, and 10x hand-held viewer over a Bausch and Lomb "corrected light" table. Haul-out sites identified in the film sequence were matched to their corresponding flight data file of time and position. Some sites were positively identified by comparison with photographs taken in previous surveys. Edited original metadata by adding ISO keywords. 20070718 California Department of Fish and Game Kristina White bios@dfg.ca.gov Vector Entity point 1652 NAD 1983 California Teale Albers 34.0 40.5 -120.0 0.0 0.0 -4000000.0 coordinate pair 0.000000003754707655900803 0.000000003754707655900803 meter D North American 1983 GRS 1980 6378137.0 298.257222101 ds106 SHAPE Feature geometry. ESRI Coordinates defining the features. FID Internal feature number. ESRI Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated. COUNTY County LOCATION Name of island, or point of reference SUBSTRATE Substrate types: onshore beach (sandy or rocky); estuary or mud flat, river or bay; extensive reef system (on or off shore); offshore rock or reef; onshore rock or reef PHOTOCOUNT Number of individuals counted in the photograph. AERIAL_EST Number of individuals estimated while flying. GRND_COUNT Number of individuals counted on the ground. YEAR_ Year of the record DATE_ Date of the record TIME Time of the record FLIGHT_NO Flight number LATDD Latitude (in decimal degrees) in NAD27 (for data collected in 2001 and 2002) or WGS84 (for data collected in 2003) LONDD Longitude (in decimal degrees) in NAD27 (for data collected in 2001 and 2002) or WGS84 (for data collected in 2003) ESRI Coordinates defining the features. Shape Feature geometry. ESRI Coordinates defining the features. 20160229 California Department of Fish and Game, Office of Spill Prevention and Response Mark Lampinen Research Analyst (GIS) mailing and physical

1700 K Street

Sacramento CA 95814 US 916 322-4777 916 324-8829 mlampinen@dfg.ca.gov FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata FGDC-STD-001-1998 local time