It's that time of year again! The now annual Great Giant Sea Bass Count (2015 edition) is almost here and we are gearing up to spot some giants.
For any of those who didn't hear about the Great Giant Sea Bass Count last year, the project involves using observations and sightings from recreational divers to help us better understand how many giant sea bass (aka Black Sea Bass, Giant Black Sea Bass, etc.) call the waters of Southern California "home". Since the moratorium on fishing giant sea bass was implemented, these gentle giants appear (unofficial observations suggest) to be rebounding from their near local extinction in the early 20th century, thus inspiring our merry band of researchers to try and determine a minimum baseline abundance of local giant sea bass. With Dr. Milton Love, Dr. Mary Nishimoto, and Dr. Douglas McCauley on the research team here at the University of California Santa Barbara, we have made improvements to the framework of last year's Great Giant Sea Bass Count and the method for reporting your dives to The Count. All observations can be easily reported at www.seasketch.org.
This year the Great Giant Sea Bass Count will occur from August 1st through the 16th. During this time we ask recreational divers to jump in the water and keep their eyes peeled for giant sea bass! Coastal, island, wreck, SCUBA, freedive, beach, boat, the more divers in the water the better! Whether or not you see a giant sea bass, let us know about your dive. Zero's are important numbers for science as well, and we want to hear from as many divers as possible. This is a really fun opportunity to be involved in a "citizen science" project that will help us all understand a little more about these awesome animals.
Also on our Sea Sketch page we have added a year-round count for both divers and fishermen to let us know when and where they spot giant sea bass outside of the official "Great Giant Sea Bass Count" dates. This will help us better understand the relatively unknown seasonal migratory patterns for these fish.
The official "Great Giant Sea Bass Count 2015" flier is attached and provides plenty of information about participating in The Count and navigating the Sea Sketch website to find our project. Any questions or concerns about the count can be emailed to giantseabasscount@gmail.com or sent to me directly in a PM.
Happy Diving!
