Deep and shallow macroplankton from the Santa Barbara Channel area of the 1969 oil spill and from the Santa Cruz Basin further offshore were compared with others from previous years to study oil damage. Spring and summer collections from nearshore bottom communities of fishes and large invertebrates around kelp beds near the blowout area were compared with collections made prior to the spill and another area. No noticeable fish kills followed the blowout. Most observed changes, apparently unrelated to the spill, corresponded with various climatic anomalies during March through August, 1969. After the blowout, the composition and mode of the Channel Island sport fishery changed with seasonal trends and probably not as a direct effect of the spill. Only the temporary disappearance of tiny mysid shrimps inhabiting the kelp canopy was a likely direct effect.