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Old 11-22-2015, 09:27 AM   #1
rojodiablo
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El Nino effects...... NO- more like aftermath.

This thread is to be about changes you see because of El Nino. It's informative, and since this forum did not exist for the last omnipotent El Nino (1983) many of the things which happened could not really be documented other than by a few marine biologists, and some dedicated fishermen/ skippers whose lives were dependent on the ocean.

Many fishermen and divers saw the changes and effects, and have passed it down to younger divers. Here is an opportunity to put up the things you notice, good, or bad, so in a year or 3 we can always go back and say 'Ah ha..... it was starting then... or, Hey, it's not as bad as we thought back then, etc.

So, I will start by saying the open water scene does not 'say' as much, since we all know the warm water fish came in, went bonkers, and are moving out. But for those who spent a lot of time under paddies this year, anything of notice that you saw which was different?
I saw 2 rainbow runner flanking a bunch of little yellowtail. And, on the paddies, there were far less rockfish juvies than normal. Then again..... hard to survive when every paddy had 16,512 baby YT swarming under it!!

Reef diving: As of June 2014, we were seeing the starfish falling apart. They have a virus, and it caused their arms to fall off and they died. Fast forward to Nov. 2015- there are no starfish anywhere I have been for at least 6 months.

Reef diving: As of June 2014, mussels were becoming thin. Some die off. By Feb. 2015, massive drop in mussel numbers. ast forward to Nov. 2015, I have dove 3 locations which routinely had tonnage of mussels, not just 'some' mussels. Gone, gone gone. Even my favorite reef, mighty and semi secluded has a foot of mussel shells on the bottom, but only maybe 10-20lb of live mussels left on it. And they do not look real healthy.

Reef diving: Macrocystis kelp is pretty beat up here. Feather kelp, boa kelp from the inside shallows is gone, and has been since spring 2015. Some deep water kelp remains in a couple spots. Would like to see reports on kelp from outer islands, especially the persistent beds like the gap at SBI, the beds of Clemente in the middle grounds, fishhook, Pyramid, Catalina from Johnsons, West cove kelp, etc? Please report on them. Not that you have to protect a spot which holding fish, etc. this is not about that.

Reef diving: The other plants; fern type stuff seems prolific, gregorians and cabbage like stuff is healthy, if not filling the gaps. Sargasso had shown up in several areas, Catalina front side and PV shallows. It seems to be dying off a bit. There is some different type of kelp-like invasive that is stringy, looks a bit like kelp, has leaves similar to feather kelp, the plant looks a bit like a sickly garden hedge. Not sure if bad, or good.

Reef diving: Sea urchins. Saw drop in the number of sea urchins (Red, Black) by Nov. 2014. But still pretty high volume. By April 2015, urchins were thinning out. As of Nov. 2015, I have now dove 3 locations in 3 weeks, and seen a grand total of 2 live sea urchins, both black, both small and weak. NO purple urchins to be found. No reds. I have seen in years past the red urchins are fewer in general, and they seem to disappear fastest. Then again, they are a variation of the black urchin, the way a ling cod can be green or reddish meat. This is a sign that new kelp growth and forage on the reef is low. Not a good sign. It can not be blamed on take by divers, as we don't take purples for food, and one of the areas is no take for urchins....... MPA's don't protect SHIT from El Nino.....

Reef diving: Lobster. They are here, and the numbers are ok. Not spectacular, but ok. They are healthy, no sickly ones. I feel a couple of the areas I dive frequently have lost so much forage for bugs that they have moved out to find food. In my 2 favorite local bug spots, the total loss of mussels means the loss of tons of food. Not to mention, the mussels support massive numbers of bloodworms and mini shrimp, etc. which are not as numerous in the remaining reef. (I dug, I looked, it's not as prolific. This of course might also mean that bloodworms and the like are also suffering negative effects from El Nino.

Reef diving: Clams. Clams are not real happy. In several areas in Dec. 2014, I saw more shells than normal, so I dug in and found few live clams. As of Nov. 2015, I found even less clams in the same areas. And I know fishermen did not take them....... divers do not even know they exist in these places, and some are MPA areas, closed to take for clams.

Please post up your findings, and if you have UW pics of stuff like invasives, please post it up.
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Old 11-22-2015, 09:44 AM   #2
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Re: El Nino effects...... NO- more like aftermath.

Great idea for a thread. Let's hope it takes off.
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Old 11-22-2015, 09:45 AM   #3
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Re: El Nino effects...... NO- more like aftermath.

Great thread. Thank you.
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Old 11-22-2015, 09:53 AM   #4
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Re: El Nino effects...... NO- more like aftermath.

Lots of Juvenile Great white shark sightings, I personally saw one on a boat and 2 while diving this year.

Palagic Red Crabs; not on surface anymore, but I assume they are still around. Both Yellowtail speared at Catalina last week (November) had about half stomach full of red crabs.

large Sardine and Mackeral baits, no Anchovy

Squid; horrific squid year, I know some squid guys that made a trek all the way to Monterey Bay just to scratch by on the bills.

clams, doing ok, found some in the open, but alive, but not for long.

Lobsters doing ok, Catalina opener was tough, bugs were on deeper reefs 25-40ft, hooping was better than diving.

Kelp at Catalina is gone, I did not see shit from Church rock all the way to Parsons landing, only some bull kelp at 80-160ft that can be seen on meter or brought up on anchor.

Kelp at PV is healthy last time I was there.

Kelp in OC is doing ok, some spots it hits the surface, but mostly comes up to 15ft below surface. Also to note, holdfasts don't look all that healthy and are small compared to usual holdfasts.

Invasive Sargaso weed (spelling?) - rapid growth in warm water has led to this taking over usual kelp holdfast spots from 0-80ft, and this crap is thick and nasty and floating all over on front side... makes trolling for fish harder as it always is snagging on the lines.

Calico bass, I have seen a drop in numbers at Catalina, I attribute this the the lack of kelp and the thickness of the weed on the bottom as it can fully cover openings to caves.
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Old 11-22-2015, 11:02 AM   #5
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Re: El Nino effects...... NO- more like aftermath.

This is a great thread. Because in every El Nino the enviros think it's the end of the world.
After the 1983 ElNino the kelp in Laguna disappeared. It came back in 2013 with the LaNina, and now it's reduced again.
-- Abs: After the 1995 abalone moratorium their numbers increased dramatically. In places like Corona Del Mar and PV it is very common to see groups of 7" greens. But now that the kelp is gone I am seriously concerned if they will survive.
Another qualitative change was the decimation of some shallow reefs after the 1997-98 El Nino. They lost all life like gorgonians, sponges, mussels, etc, and it looked like a river bed for many years. Some of these reefs were restored since then in recent years but they may get decimated with the pounding surf again this winter.
-- Halibut: in-shore their numbers are reduced as their favorite sands channels have been washed off by the big swells.
-- WSB: I'm afraid to take a guess but it doesn't look good with all the kelp gone.

Last edited by campione; 11-22-2015 at 11:55 AM. Reason: typos
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Old 11-22-2015, 11:29 AM   #6
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Re: El Nino effects...... NO- more like aftermath.

Quote:
Originally Posted by campione View Post
This is a great thread. Because in every El Nino the enviros think it's the end of the world.
After the 1983 ElNino the kelp in Laguna disappeared. It came back in 2013 with the LaNina, and now it's reduced again.
-- Abs: After the 1995 abalone moratorium their numbers increased dramatically. In places like Corona Del Mar and PV it is very common to see groups of 7" greens. But now that the kelp is gone I an seriously concerned it they will survive.
Another qualitative change was the decimation of some shallow reefs after the 1997-98 El Nino. They lost all life like gorgonians, sponges, mussels, etc, and it looked like a river bed for many years. Some of these reefs were restored since then, in recent years but they may get decimated with the pounding surf again this winter.
-- Halibut: in-shore their numbers are reduced as their favorite sands channels have been washed off by the big swells.
-- WSB: I'm afraid to take a guess but it doesn't look good with all he kelp gone.
WSB numbers are sky-high, so their health is not a great concern to me; the issue will be how well people can hunt them once they attain 'ghost' status again. Without kelp....... you hunt WSB in the open. And they are not so easy to shoot out in the wide open when they are hunting baitfish.

Halibut definitely moved off due to much warmer waters. A fish of note I hope some will chime in about is grunion. Any info from grunion hunts this year would be great, and hopefully people will be on the lookout for them when the runs start in May or so.

ALSO: Take note of what Stathis pointed out. This thread should not be 'Hoopers, commercial guys, fishermen, divers wiped this or that out....' It's just not so guys. We are in a great position to really see the effects of what a really big El Nino does to the local ocean, and it might change perceptions of fishermen and non fishermen alike if we use this to educate people. I am waiting to see how abalone do. I have not heard of withering foot issues, and most ab beds are holding pretty good numbers. We will have to see how they hold up thru next summer. I am expecting no kelp, regardless of whether we have big storms or not. 2 years of a steady cook damages kelp to it's core, and the kelp spores do not handle it well.
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Old 11-22-2015, 12:14 PM   #7
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Re: El Nino effects...... NO- more like aftermath.

Should probably clarify region within california. For example, I'm seeing a pretty big increase in urchins where I dive mostly in northern california, while it sounds like socal is seeing them decreasing?
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Old 11-22-2015, 12:39 PM   #8
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Re: El Nino effects...... NO- more like aftermath.

Grunion: doing well! I have seen more hatchlings of grunions. Massive schools of .5-2" grunion/fry after every new and full moon in Newport and Huntington harbors and large schools of large grunion in el Moro cove, and anywhere I Surf from wedge to HB pier there is a tonage of grunion.
Also to note lots of large Mexican Smelt(big eyes) to 2ft in length could be seen jumping in harbors and sometimes in surf zone. Odd looking fish, has a tendency to ram me on night dives. Smelt/grunion don't hurt much, but something the size of a football suks!
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Old 11-22-2015, 01:20 PM   #9
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Re: El Nino effects...... NO- more like aftermath.

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Grunion: doing well! I have seen more hatchlings of grunions. Massive schools of .5-2" grunion/fry after every new and full moon in Newport and Huntington harbors and large schools of large grunion in el Moro cove, and anywhere I Surf from wedge to HB pier there is a tonage of grunion.
Also to note lots of large Mexican Smelt(big eyes) to 2ft in length could be seen jumping in harbors and sometimes in surf zone. Odd looking fish, has a tendency to ram me on night dives. Smelt/grunion don't hurt much, but something the size of a football suks!
The jumpers are mullet. Bony as hell; meat itself is good.... lots of work.
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Old 11-22-2015, 01:22 PM   #10
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Re: El Nino effects...... NO- more like aftermath.

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Should probably clarify region within california. For example, I'm seeing a pretty big increase in urchins where I dive mostly in northern california, while it sounds like socal is seeing them decreasing?
This is a good point; everything I am talking about is from SD to PV. Have not even made it to Malibu this year.

I did see some urchins in San Simeon, but even there, the numbers are low. I feel that's as much otters as ocean conditions. Plus side, more abs there than prior years finally becoming visible.
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Old 11-22-2015, 10:14 PM   #11
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Re: El Nino effects...... NO- more like aftermath.

From my stretch of norcal: Ridiculous amount of bait, stripers, gws and whales this year. Water in the 60s is much more pleasant than water in the 50s. Bummer: the current crab situation
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Old 11-23-2015, 01:04 AM   #12
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Re: El Nino effects...... NO- more like aftermath.

I am a sea cucumber commercial diver and this year, because of the hotter water, the amount of cukes was very limited and the cukes have migrated from their usual locations to deeper territory. There was almost no thermocline even at 100ft. San Clemente and San Nicholas have almost no kelp either. There have been many changes in the diving world over the last years. Many of us this year have seen huge turtles like those in Hawaii, manta rays on Catalina, and mini-van sized broom-tail groupers on Santa Barbara.
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Old 11-23-2015, 01:29 AM   #13
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Re: El Nino effects...... NO- more like aftermath.

The warm water has definitely killed most of the giant kelp up here in Santa Barbara County. All my spots that used to be a healthy forest have been relatively barren the last few months. lame
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Old 11-23-2015, 03:20 PM   #14
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Re: El Nino effects...... NO- more like aftermath.

Thank you for posting this
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Old 11-23-2015, 03:56 PM   #15
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Re: El Nino effects...... NO- more like aftermath.

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The warm water has definitely killed most of the giant kelp up here in Santa Barbara County. All my spots that used to be a healthy forest have been relatively barren the last few months. lame
Which spots are barren?

All the coastal spots I dive are pretty much status quo...
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