File:Cetaceans of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary - prepared for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and NOAA, National Marine Fisheries (20580102142).jpg

Title: Cetaceans of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary / prepared for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and NOAA, National Marine Fisheries Service by Stephen Leatherwood, Brent S. Stewart, Pieter A. Folkens
Identifier: cetaceansofchan00leat (find matches)
Year: 1987 (1980s)
Authors: Leatherwood, Stephen; Stewart, Brent Scott; Folkens, Pieter A; Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (Agency : U. S. ); United States. National Marine Fisheries Service
Subjects: Whales California Channel Islands.
Publisher: Santa Barbara, Calif. : The Sanctuary
Contributing Library: Penn State University
Digitizing Sponsor: LYRASIS Members and Sloan Foundation

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INTRODUCTION The Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS) was established in 1980 to protect areas off the Southern California coast which contain significant marine resources. In the Designation Docu- ment establishing the CINMS, the caretakers were directed to develop and implement a comprehensive plan for management of the CINMS's resources, to encourage wise and compatible uses of the area, and to improve public awareness as an aid to appreciation and protection. Towards that end, the newly established management included among its first official actions the issuance of contracts to assess the current state of knowledge. This report is the result of such an assessment. Its purpose is to summarize information available on the status of cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) in and near the CINMS. This information is required so that responsible managers and staff can correctly inform the public about use of CINMS waters by cetaceans, intelligently predict and assess affects on these animals of current and planned activities (industrial, recreational and research activities, fishing and water pollution) within and near the CINMS, and plan to mitigate unwanted effects where possible. The status of cetaceans is best reviewed in the context of the basic environmental conditions which affect their presence, abundance and seasonality in the area(s) of interest. The CINMS includes all waters within 6 nm of the four northern California Channel Islands (Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa and San Miguel and its adjacent islet) and Santa Barbara Island, some 25 nm to their southeast. Overall, the area set aside includes about 1250 nm of sea surface. The islands and the CINMS are located in the Southern California Bight (SCB). The SCB is on a broad expanse of well developed continental shelf lands (also referred to as "continental borderlands") extending from about Point Conception (ca. 34 30 N) on the north to about Cabo Colnette, Baja California (ca. 31 00 N) on the south and bordered on the west by the Patton Escarpment, a steep slope south and west of the islands with contours bearing in the northwesterly direction. Defined in this manner the SCB contains nominally 25,000 square nautical miles of ocean surface. Though varied in physiognomy the region is dominated by the eight California Channel Islands — hereafter often called simply the Channel Islands - the five in the CINMS plus San Nicolas, Santa Catalina and San Clemente. (Some researchers include in the listing the three Islas Coronados, located just southwest of San Diego in Mexican territory.) The sea bottom in the SCB is buckled by the Cortez-Santa Rosa Ridge, three deep shelf basins (Catalina, Santa Cruz and Santa Monica), two important "channels" (San Pedro and Santa Barbara) and a series of minor escarpments, canyons, banks and sea mounts (e.g. Cortez, Tanner, 60-mile and Farnsworth banks and Lausen Sea Mount). The CINMS itself is well over the continental shelf, contain- ing waters largely less than about 6ofms deep. Santa Barbara Island sits atop a rather broad mesa surrounded by relatively shallow shelf basins. On their north side, the four northern islands front a broad shallow basin, the dominant submarine feature of the Santa Barbara Channel. Greatest depths in the CINMS are those near the southern and western boundaries of the northern islands.
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LEGEND S»„ctuSry i-Milc L: FIGURE i. The northern portions of the Southern California Bight showing the limits of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, major components of bottom topography, and major place names referred to in the text. (Courtesy Carol Pillsbury CINMS and Charlotte Carlisle)

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