Fish Reef Project

10/09/2026

Hello Fellow Fish Reefers! Meet Spot. 🐟

Spot is a giant sea bass (Stereolepis gigas), the largest bony fish found on California’s shallow rocky reefs, and he’s been spotted making the Goleta Sea Caves his home. These giants can grow up to 7 feet long and live more than 70 years. They’re also critically endangered and have been protected in California since 1982, which makes Spot one very special neighbor.

Unfortunately, the Sea Caves Spot lives in are at risk. Unless Fish Reef Project raises the funding it needs to move forward, all 16 Sea Caves will be removed from the Goleta seafloor. The habitat Spot depends on will go with them, and Spot will be left without a home.

Follow along with See Spot Swim to keep up with Spot and help us spread the word. 💙

Thank you for helping ocean life thrive!

10/06/2026

Hello Fellow Fish Reefers! Welcome to Cave Watch, Episode 4 and our season finale. 🦞

The Goleta Sea Caves saved some of their best residents for last. A yellow rock crab, a baby calico bass, a bat star, sea hares, lobsters, and kombu taking hold, plus one very special find: a mermaid’s purse. 🐚

That little egg case is a sign that life isn’t just visiting this reef, it’s starting here.

Two years ago these Sea Caves were placed on bare seabed off Goleta, CA. Now they’re a home, a nursery, and a living part of the ocean. That’s what a biogenic reef is built to do.

This wraps Season 1 of Cave Watch, but we’re far from done. Follow along so you don’t miss what the Sea Caves do next. 💙

Later this week we’re heading south for a new and exciting project you won’t want to miss. 👀

09/24/2026

Hello Fellow Fish Reefers! We are back to our regular scheduled programing with Cave Watch, Episode 3 🌊

Inside the sea caves, you’ll find life in every nook and cranny. Yellow kelp crabs, decorator crabs, lobsters, red coralline algae, a Spanish shawl nudibranch, and even a lone giant kelp sapling were spotted across the 16 Sea Caves.

The Sea Caves are biogenic, marine life is establishing and growing on what was once a man-made structure. In some places, it’s almost impossible to tell the difference.

Watch to the end to see the a tiny supprise. 🪸

Next week we will see even more of the life that has made a home in the Sea Caves. 

As always, thank you for helping oceans thrive!

09/10/2026

Hello Fish Reefers! Welcome back to Cave Watch, episode two.

This is our 15th dive on the Sea Caves off Goleta, California, right in front of Goleta Pier and Goleta Beach County Park, the very shoreline these reefs help protect. What we found this time is something marine biologists call the halo effect. For 20 to 30 meters in every direction around the Sea Caves, the entire seafloor has come alive. The structures stabilize the sand, and that stability is letting red marine algae like dulse take hold across the whole area.

Giant kelp is missing this year, warm water conditions are keeping it from establishing. In its place you’ll see brown algae, Laminaria setchellii mixed with Alaria marginata, growing three to four feet tall on their own yearly cycle. When they die back and the water cools again, that’s the window for Macrocystis pyrifera, giant kelp, to reestablish and grow all the way to the surface.

This is exactly why more Sea Cave structure matters. It gives kelp forests something solid to rebuild on, so recovery happens faster and the ecosystem can weather El Niño years instead of losing ground to them.

Tune in next week for episode three of Cave Watch, we’re diving into the animals that call the Sea Caves home.

Thank you for helping oceans thrive!

09/03/2026

Hello Fish Reefers! Two years ago we deployed 16 Sea Caves in 36 feet of water off Goleta, California, creating the only biogenic Sea Cave reef in California.

This week’s Cave Watch documents a full marine ecosystem transformation. We start on a bare seabed with almost no life, then watch biofilm form, the first building block of ocean restoration. Just 7 months later, giant kelp reached the surface and dominated the reef for an entire year, turning our Sea Caves into a thriving kelp forest habitat.

Now we’re entering an El Niño year. Sea surface temperatures off the Southern California coast never dropped below 60 degrees, and the kelp forest is starting to change.

Tune in next week for the next episode of Cave Watch to meet the creatures who have mad a home in the Sea Cave reef 🌊

Thank you for helping ocean life thrive! ®

09/01/2026

NOAA is forecasting the strongest El Niño ever recorded. Swipe through to see what the science says, and what it takes for kelp to come back stronger.

📣Tap the link in our bio learn more about how you can help.

01/29/2026

02/19/2025

Can you imagine Goleta Bay as a giant kelp forest like it once was? We can! With less than a year in the water our flagship reef is thriving with biodiversity. Crawling with lobster, octopus, shellfish, crabs and a water column full of fish, the proof is in the pudding! If you build it, they will come. We’re happy to be well on our way to supporting sustainable fishers, recreation, biodiversity and carbon sequestration. Please visit our website to learn more and support us.

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01/19/2025

We are so happy with how well our SeaCaves held up against the winter swell so far, the kelp holdfasts continue to grow! Kelp at the surface and crawling with lobster!

11/23/2024

Amazing!!! Our Sea CavesⓇ have supported healthy kelp to the surface in Goleta Bay, the beginning of a new kelp forest. It’s a true thing of beauty.