The objective of this reconnaissance survey was to assess the physical, biological and water quality characteristics of the San Diego-La Jolla Ecological Reserve Area of Special Biological Significance (SDLJER-ASBS) in order to evaluate the status of protection of its marine resources. The assessment included the following character descriptions: location and size; nearshore waters and submarine topography; geophysical characteristics; climate; biota of both subtidal and intertidal habitats; landside flora; and unique biotic components. The SDLJER-ASBS is unique in its inclusion of a variety of habitats: a broad, sandy shelf; a submarine canyon; a small kelp bed; a small submerged cobble patch; reefs composed of flat sandstone/shale ledges interspersed with patches of sand; and a boulder-strewn mudstone reef complex. It thus includes organisms of a sandy substrate, clay-bank canyon inhabitants, many of the rich biota surrounding a kelp bed, and various other rocky-reef fauna and flora. Further, the submerged cobble patch is a proven archaeological site from which more than 2000 artifacts believed to have belonged to the La Jollan culture, ca. 5000-7000 years before the present, have been recovered
