A research team focused on ocean conservation, and ocean advocacy has just wrapped up its second expedition this year to the Channel Islands.
The team from the Oceana organization has been doing dives, and collecting water samples to check the DNA of sea life in the northern Channel Islands.
"We've seen some really incredible species. We saw a tope shark, or stickfin shark out here at Anacapa this morning," said Caitlynn Birch, who is a scientist with Oceana, and is also the leader of the expedition. "We saw an angel shark at Santa Cruz Island yesterday. We also saw a few horn sharks as well...some bat rays. We even saw a barred sand bass, which is a species that's not doing so well, so it was great to see that little guy out there."
The researchers are gathering information on the biodiversity of the islands.
They are hoping to use some of the information to lobby for new restrictions on gillnet fishing off the California Coast. It’s a controversial issue. Large mesh gillnets are banned in state waters, but can be used in federal waters
The expeditions are sponsored by the Swiss watchmaker Blancpain.
