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Divers Monitoring San Diego Reefs

Volunteer divers will be at La Jolla Cove Friday as part of a statewide scientific survey of California's rocky reefs. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has details.

Volunteer divers will be at La Jolla Cove tomorrow (Friday) as part of a statewide scientific survey of California's rocky reefs. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has details.

More than 200 volunteer divers are collecting data from 60 rocky reefs along the coast including three spots in San Diego.

The reef check dive teams are looking for "indicator species," such as spiny lobster, California sheephead fish and seaweed.

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What they find tells them about the health of the reefs. 

Cyndi Dawson with Reef Check California says the information is used by marine biologists who manage the state's coastal waters.
Dawson : It helps them get a handle on sort of what the overall health status of these reefs are and also of those individual populations of the indicator species that we survey.
Dawson says it's the third year for the survey.

She says the report provides a baseline of what species inhabit the marine areas.

Dawson says that data will be used for future comparisons to monitor the health of the reefs.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.