Marine Biology Commons^™

The Value Of A Net‐Cage As A Fish Aggregating Device In Southern California, Daniel Pondella

Daniel Pondella

There is an urgent need for primary data that can be used to quantify the value of marine aquaculture facilities that also describe influences on the surrounding natural ecosystem and its wild fish communities. Divers completed 360 transect replicates below a net-cage and at nearby and distant rocky reefs off Catalina Island, California, estimating the species abundance and size class of all conspicuous fishes in the water column. We observed 10,234 fishes aggregating below the net-cage with a mean annual density of 142 (SE ± 30) per 100 m2 and diversity H′ 2.29. At the adjacent reference reef, we counted …