By: Julie McNamara

On Friday October 25, the final quarterly beach seine was deployed for the Colorado Lagoon’s first year of
environmental monitoring. A beach seine is a method of fishing that uses a net
hung vertical in the water with the bottom edged weighted and the top buoyed by
floats. Seines have been used widely though out history and today scientists use
this method to help identify spatial and temporal changes in fish assemblages.
There are possible causes of observed changes in the assemblages with include
natural phenomena (climate), pollution, habitat degradation and restoration!

 The Friday beach seine was deployed in three areas, two outside the
reserve and one with in the reserve. The first seine we caught tons of baby
California Killifish (Fundulus parvipinnis). This species is a coastal fish that occurs in shallow bays, estuaries
and marshes. They can tolerate a wide range of salinities, oxygen levels and pollution. 

The second seine was inside the reserve, where we caught over 500 adult and baby
California Killifish! We also caught several Topsmelt (Atherinops affinis), this species is also common in estuaries and can tolerate drastic swings in water salinity! The most exciting surprise of this seine was the Two-spotted Octopus (Octopus
bimaculoides).  This was the first octopus ever caught in one of Colorado Lagoon’s beach seines! Two-spotted
Octopus is named for its obvious blue spots located behind its eyes. They can grow up to a two foot arm span and the female can lay up to 150,000 eggs. They female will brood continuously for 2-4 months, she does not feed during this
time and then dies around hatching time. The young remain on the bottom after hatching and have a life span of 2-3 years!
Amazing!

 The third beach seine deployed was across the bridge and we found a Striped Kelpfish (Gibbonsia metzi)!  This species can be found in tide pools and kelp beds down to a depth of 9 meters. 
 
Fridays beach seines and the previous seines in the Colorado Lagoon have laid the base line survey for future seines to be
compared to!

By: Julie McNamara

Hidden behind chain link fences and scattered with oil rigs, the last remaining TRUE saltwater wetlands of the Los Cerritos Wetlands Complex continues to be a refuge for many wildlife species. Passed by daily by many residents and tourists, the wetlands are located adjacent to Los Cerritos Channel and Studebaker road.

The daily influx and outflow of the ocean water brings nutrients that are keeping the slough thriving! The tidal influence is the blood of this saltwater marsh, which extends 650 meters.

Steam Shovel Slough is home to many species of shore birds, migratory birds, plants, and marine organisms. It is also home to the California Least Tern and Belding’s Savannah Sparrow, both are endangered species.

Tidal Influence, LLC has just concluded the deployment and survey of Steam Shovel Slough for vegetation, soil, and invertebrate samples. This information will help scientists learn how to preserve saltmarsh wetlands and it serves as a foundation for future research!

Join Tidal Influence, LLC in the fight for the saltwater wetlands! Join us at our restoration events by emailing iwanttohelp@tidalinfluence.com or education@coloradolagoo.org for information on how you can make an impact!

By Jade Dean

Over the past two weeks, several of our staff have observed a population of Pseudoceros in the Colorado Lagoon. Pseudoceros is a genus of flatworm. According to the Southern California Association of Marine Invertebrate Taxonomists (SCAMIT), there are two species of Pseudoceros that are found in the Southern California Bight: Pseudoceros mexicanus and Pseudoceros montereyensis.

Update: Thanks to SCAMIT, it has been positively identified as Pseudoceros bajae!

By Jade Dean
We have officially started our monitoring project with SMBRF this past week! While the SMBRF team was conducting a CRAM survey at Hellman, Tidal Influence was responsible for collecting detailed vegetation data using three methods: percent cover, line intercept, and laser quadrat. See the image below to better understand our methodology and check back here for more updates as the surveys continue!

By Jade Dean

Last week, we held our second beach seine of the summer with the Pacific Coast Environmental Conservancy at the Colorado Lagoon and Bayshore in Long Beach, CA. All of our interns are getting the hang of catching and processing the various species we collect during these seines. Miss last month's beach seine recap? Read all about it here!

Here are some of our results:

• Over 400 Topsmelt (Atherinops affinis) caught at the Colorado Lagoon.
• The largest fish caught at Bayshore was a  Bay Pipe Fish (Syngnathus griseolineatus) that measured 20.3cm or 7.9in.
• The largest fish caught at the Colorado Lagoon was a Bat Ray (Myliobatis californicus) that measured  41cm or 16.1in.
• Our Bayshore seine had the most species diversity to date. We caught: Giant Kelpfish (Heterostichus rostratus), Striped Kelpfish (Gibbonsia metzi), Diamond Turbot (Hypsopsetta guttulata), California Halibut (Paralichthys californicus), Bay Pipe Fish (Syngnathus griseolineatus), and Shinner Perch (Cymatogaster aggregata).

By Jade Dean

On Wednesday, Tidal Influence was represented by Jade Dean and Tia Blair at the ESRI User's Conference in San Diego, CA. They attended several moderated paper sessions and the topics ranged from: how to track African lions in a wildlife refuge, how to manage invasive species with GIS, and how to use LiDAR data to map vernal pools and monitor coastal erosion. On the EXPO floor, they discussed conservation efforts in southern California with representatives of Algalita, The Trust for Public Land, and NatureServe. The pair also attended meetups with the Southern California Chapter of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (SoCal Urisa) and CSU Long Beach's GIS Department. All in all, it was an awesome day for networking and learning the latest and greatest ways to use GIS for conservation!

By Jade Dean

Our first beach seine was held this past Saturday at the Colorado Lagoon and the Peninsula in Long Beach, CA. The purpose of the beach seine is to not only learn about the various organisms in Alamitos Bay, but to also better understand and gauge stress in fish along the California coastline. Our partner, Pacific Coast Environmental Conservancy, is measuring stress by analyzing its hormones and tissues. Read more about their research here.

Here are some of our results from Saturday:

• Over 800 Topsmelt (Atherinops affinis) caught at the Peninsula.
• Over 80 California Killifish (Fundulus parvipinnis) caught at the Colorado Lagoon.
• The largest fish of the day was a California Halibut (Paralichthys californicus) that measured 14.3cm or 5.6in.

By Jade Dean
This summer, Tidal Influence will partner with the Pacific Coast Environmental Conservancy (PCEC) to conduct beach seines in Alamitos Bay and Colorado Lagoon.
A beach seine is a surveying method that relies on a net to gather fish and other organisms in a body of water. Typically, beach seines are conducted at the Colorado Lagoon on a quarterly basis. During the summer, we hold a beach seine every month to further understand our local ecosystems and organisms that call these waters home.
Be sure to check back for more updates on our surveys! In the meantime, check out PCEC: http://pceconservancy.org/