Author: James Wilkinson

Since 1987, seabirds and marine mammals have been surveyed along the CalCOFI transect during daylight hours while the ship is underway. Data counts on seabirds and marine mammals are entered into a handheld computer in real time and are available to filter or download on the Datazoo webpage. Bird observers participating on CalCOFI cruises are…

In April 2004, a visual and acoustic marine mammal survey component was added to the CalCOFI project to study cetacean ecology and habitat. Visual monitoring is conducted during quarterly cruises by experienced marine mammal observers using handheld 7x binoculars. Supplementary Bigeyes (25x magnification) or image stabilizer hand-held binoculars (18x magnification) are used for species identification…

The Continuous Underway Fish Egg Sampler (CUFES) is an instrument used to collect pelagic eggs of fish and related hydrographic data from ~3m depth on a moving ship. These samples and data, typically collected during winter and spring cruises, are used to investigate spawning habitat and estimate spawning biomass.  When large aggregations of fish eggs are present, Pair-o-vet…