 I have been trying to make sense of the very complex issues surrounding the rock fish season regulations. It is challenging to find a way to explain the many factors that affect how the seasons are set for this fishery. The rock fishery regulations are driven by two laws: the Magnason Stevens Act and the Sustainable Fisheries Act (passed in 1996-1997). The Sustainable Fisheries Act changed the way the fish are accounted for, requiring that the fish populations be estimated by a “biomass.” The biomass is considered the baseline for estimating the number of fish in the ocean. The actual baseline used by the scientists is an estimate of how many fish were in the ocean in 1965 – prior to the impact of the heavy fishing pressure of the 1980’s and 1990’s. In essence, these two laws were designed to help rebuild the stocks back to this historic (1965) level, with the 1965 population levels considered to be the maximum size of the population (100%). Under present fishing pressure (based on 1998), we currently have stocks of boccaccio, canary, and ling cod that are below 25% of this baseline. This 25% represents the bottom of the sustainable yield of these fish. The populations of these species are the driving force behind the season closures that are taking place at this time. It is evident that the wide open fishing pressure of the commercial gill netters and joint venture vessels of the 80’s and 90’s are the cause of most of the problems we are seeing today. But that is not the only reason. In addition, there has been a misunderstanding of the life cycle of these fish. Most of these fish have very long life cycles & are slower at spawning than previously thought. For instance, the golden eye can live up to seventy years. The recent “warm water regime” (El Nino and beyond) has also affected the spawning of these species, resulting in population declines. As of last year, we have seen a major downward shift in the water temperature. This decrease in water temperatures should be good for the spawning cycles of the rock fish. The ling cod is a fast growing species and the anticipated new regulations should result in recovery of their populations in about ten years. Biologists estimate that the boccaccio and canary will need between forty and eighty years to recover to the 1965 baseline population. It is this long-term recovery period that drives the decision-making process regarding season closures we are currently experiencing in this fishery. After attending the California Dept. of Fish & Game meetings in Sacramento, I came home feeling that the regulating agencies will enforce further closures for the year 2001. At this point, it is my sense of things that we are possibly looking at closures in January and February to be added to the March and April closures instituted this year (2000). In addition, we will likely see a reduction in the “Bag limit” with the possibility of dropping the limit of rock fish down to 7 or even as low as 3!!! The general public has no idea of how bad these changes will affect their rights to access the fishery. We need to send letters to legislative representatives and the Department of Fish and Game! The mission of the Department of Fish and Game is to manage our resources “for their use and enjoyment by the public.” Everyone who is interested in preserving the right to public access of the ocean needs to get involved. Here are some sources for meetings and addresses for your senators and congressional representatives: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/fg_comm/2000mtgs.html (for meetings, times and places) Persons to write to are: cwilson@dfg.ca.gov CAnearshore@egroups.com Mleoweber@aol.com rtreanor@hq.dfg.ca.gov http://www.fedgate.org/ http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html |
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