At the Center's new Santa Cruz Laboratory in Santa Cruz, California, research focuses on the life history, population dynamics, stock assessment, and ecology of Pacific coast groundfishes , including rockfish, flatfish, Pacific whiting, sablefish, and lingcod. Work is also conducted on ocean stocks of salmon , including species listed under the Endangered Species Act , which spawn in the Sacramento and Klamath river systems. Research is aimed at developing information and methods that will be useful to the Pacific Fishery Management Council in managing fisheries for these stocks of fish. The laboratory scientists provide fish stock assessments to the Council, study causes of variability in recruitment and abundance of rockfish stocks, assess the general physiological health of groundfish populations, and study links between fish population health and productivity.
Research also is conducted on deepwater groundfish habitats and coastal marine protected areas .
The new facility is located adjacent to the Long Marine Laboratory of the University of California Santa Cruz . In relocating to the Monterey Bay region, the new fisheries research laboratory joins a distinguished community of research and academic institutions engaged in ocean science, with new opportunities for collaborative and cooperative activities. The laboratory also is home to the new National Science Center for Marine Protected Areas , which will be the focal point of federal efforts to protect and conserve U.S. coastal and marine resources. California Department of Fish and Game , U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service , Pacific Fishery Management Council , San Francisco State University, Bodega Marine Laboratory , University of California Davis , Marine Advisory Service University of California , Moss Landing Marine Laboratories , U.S. Environmental Protection Agency , Point Reyes Bird Observatory, California Coastal Commission , San Francisco Tyee Club, and Long Marine Laboratory .