California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations

The California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) are a unique partnership of the California Department of Fish and Game, NOAA Fisheries Service and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The organization was formed in 1949 to study the ecological aspects of the sardine population collapse off California. Today our focus has shifted to the study of the marine environment off the coast of California, the management of its living resources, and monitoring the indicators of El Nino and climate change. CalCOFI conducts quarterly cruises off southern & central California, collecting a suite of hydrographic and biological data on station and underway.  Data collected at depths down to 500 m include: temperature, salinity, oxygen, phosphate, silicate, nitrate and nitrite, chlorophyll, transmissometer, PAR, C14 primary productivity, phytoplankton biodiversity, zooplankton biomass, and zooplankton biodiversity. Ancillary data collected include continuous underway sea surface & meterological measurements (SCIMS); Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) data; the Continuous Underway Fish Egg Sampler (CUFES, winter & spring); trace metals; sediments; MOCNESS net sampling;  bio-optics; PCO2 air-sea interface, and atmospheric measurements. Marine mammal and sea bird visual surveys are conducted during transits between stations as well as marine mammal acoustics recording.

	Scripps Institution of Oceanography CalCOFI Group, Integrative Oceanography Division CCE-LTER  - Long-Term Ecological Research Network Marine Mammals Acoustics Group, MPL
	NOAA - National Marine Fisheries Service Southwest Fisheries Science Center
	California Department of Fish & Game Marine Region
	CCE-LTER: California Current Ecosystem CCE-LTER at SIO LTER Network
See our Affilates page for more information and other contributors.

CalCOFI Report Vol 50, 2009 (Complete report pdf; individual pdf links below)
Symposium: Copepod Species Richness as an Indicator of Long-term Changes in the Coastal Ecosystem of the Northern California Current.
I. Reports, Reviews, and Publications

• Report of the CalCOFI Committee
• Review of Selected California Fisheries for 2008: Coastal Pelagic Finfish,Market Squid,Ocean Salmon,Groundfish, California Spiny Lobster, Spot Prawn,White Seabass, Kelp Bass, Thresher Shark,Skates and Rays, Kellet’ s Whelk and Sea Cucumber
• The State of the California Current, Spring 2008-2009: Cold Conditions Drive Regional Differences. Sam McClatchie, Ralf Goericke, Franklin B. Schwing, Steven J . Bograd,William T . Peterson, Robert Emmett, Richard Charter ,William Watson, Nancy Lo, Kevin Hill, Curtis Collins,Mati Kahru, B. Greg Mitchell, J . Anthony Koslow, Jose Gomez-Valdes , Bertha E. Lavaniegos, Gilberto Gaxiola-Castro, Jon Gottschalk, Michelle L’Heureux, Yan Xue,Marlenne Manzano-Sarabia, Eric Bjorkstedt, Stephen Ralston, John Field, Laura Rogers-Bennett, Lisa Munger , Greg Campbell, Karlina Merkens, Dominique Camacho, Andrea Havron, Annie Douglas and John Hildebrand
• Publications

Since 1949, hydrographic and biological data of the California Current System have been collected on CalCOFI cruises.  The 61 year hydrographic time-series includes temperature, salinity, oxygen and phosphate observations.  In 1961, nutrient analysis expanded to include silicate, nitrate and nitrite; in 1973, chlorophyll was added; in 1984, C14 primary productivity incubations were added.

These data are available on the CalCOFI website as:
 
IEH-Ascii Bottle Data (IEH-format) files (194903-201004), two versions (YY=year, MM=month):

• YYMMarch.ieh - observed data
• YYMMt.ieh - observed data with interpolated and/or CTD standard level data
• IEH Format Description - CalCOFI 128-column data archive, column-specific description.

CalCOFI Hydrographic Data are available as downloadable files in several formats (mdb, xml, csv, sql dump):

• 1949-2010 CalCOFI Hydrographic Data  Database (< click to download the Microsoft Access 2003 version; last update 1Sept2010; please note that this is a 'rar self-extracting exe', half the size of the previous zips) includes final hydrographic data from 1949-2010 (Apr 2010). All online versions of the database includes final, published data only. A research version with preliminary data is available by request from the CalCOFI data manager.
• CSV - 194903 to 201004 Cast & Bottle Tables as CSV (< click to download self-extracting rar exe, ver. 1Sept2010)
• XML - 194903 to 201004 Cast and Bottle XML files (1Sept2010; self-extracting rar exe) - Cast and Bottle tables as separate XML-XSD files
• SQL - 194903 to 201004 Access to MySQL 'dump' SQL file  (1Sept2010; self-extracting rar exe) - complete web version, includes Cast, Bottle, Cruise, Standard Station, Standard Depth, and metadata tables, uncompresses to over 870mb

Newest fixes and additions: 30 Aug  2010

• Added final data from CalCOFIs 1001NH & 1004MF.
• CalCOFI 0104JD station dates were off by -24hrs, fixed.
• Added missing stations 80.100 and 90.100 to 0911NH database.
• Please refer to Work_Done table in the database for additions, changes & corrections.
• Added content to Cruise_ID column: YYYY-MM-DD-Project Code-Ship Code
• Changed ShipName to Ship_Name in Cast table to match the 0-Ships table and establish a relational link
• Changed the Ship_Code to 4 characters only; UNOLS 2 digit country code + 2 char ship code
• Fixed 191001 glitch to 201001 in preliminary database

CTD data - 199308 - 201008 raw, preliminary-processed and bottle-corrected final 1m bin averaged Seabird 911+ temperature, salinity, oxygen, fluorometer, transmissometer, PAR, and ISUS electronic sensor data.

• CTD Query Form - 2009 Final Bottle-corrected CTD 1m binavg data search form; test page

Data reports (html or pdf from 1990 here). Hardcopy publications since 1953 are available in the UC library system.

• Data Report Format Description
• CalCOFI Reports - pdf versions are available online, hardcopies are available in
  the UC library system
• CalCOFI Atlases - index; hardcopies only available in the UC library system
• Zooplankton Collection - Datazoo's zooplankton online database information and query
• Data Summary - a few compiled papers for CalCOFI

Upcoming or Current Cruise(s): cruise dates are subject to change so check back often or check the ship's schedule. New Horizon's 2010 schedule

• CalCOFI 1010NH: 28 Oct - 15 Nov 2010 on SIO R/V New Horizon.  Loading days 25-27 Oct 2010.

Completed Cruises

• CalCOFI 1001NH: 12 Jan - 6 Feb 2010 on SIO R/V New Horizon.  Departs San Diego, returns to San Diego.  Loading days: 7-11 Jan 2010.
• CalCOFI 1004MF Leg 1: 26 Mar - 10 Apr 2010 on NOAA R/V Miller Freeman.  Departs San Diego, Offloads Port Hueneme
  
• CalCOFI 1004MF Leg 2: 11 Apr - 23 Apr 2010 on NOAA R/V Miller Freeman.  Departs San Francisco, Offloads San Diego
  
• CalCOFI 1004MF Leg 3: 26 Apr - 17 May 2010 on NOAA R/V Miller Freeman.  Departs San Diego, Offloads Port Hueneme
• CalCOFI 1008NH: 30 Jul - 18 Aug 2010 on SIO R/V New Horizon.  Loading days 27 - 29 Jul 2010.

Opportunities to volunteer on CalCOFI Cruises in 2010

• CalCOFI 1010NH: 28 Oct - 15 Nov 2010 on SIO R/V New Horizon. Departs San Diego, returns to San Diego.

Interested in participating in an oceanographic cruise? CalCOFI cruises are staffed by personnel from the three supporting agencies: NMFS/NOAA, IOD/SIO, & CDF&G. Volunteers are often recruited to help deploy equipment, collect data, and draw and analyze samples.

General criterias are:

• sea-worthiness (experience at sea, recreational is acceptable);
• good health;
• scientific background;
• ability to follow detailed instructions carefully;
• ability to work safely on an oceanographic cruise.
• availability - most cruises are 16 - 18 days; some winter & spring cruises are longer.
  
• ability to work a 12hr watch (noon to midnight or midnight to noon)

Additional information is available in the CalCOFI Handbook. If you are interested in participating, please send a resume and a brief description of your seagoing experience and interests to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.