ROCKFISH & LING COD REGULATIONS FOR 2001,
AND POSSIBLE ADDITIONAL RESTRICTIONS!
By Bob Fletcher, President

In November, 1999, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) adopted new restrictions on take of rockfish & ling cod for recreational and commercial fishermen because several species of rockfish had been formally listed by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) as overfished, and several more were soon added to that list.

Now listed are: Bocaccio, Cowcod, Canary Rockfish, Pacific Ocean Perch (POP), widow rockfish and Ling Cod. Canary, widow rockfish and POP are not normally found south of Pt. Conception. The formal listing triggers a requirement in federal law that each stock must have a rebuilding plan adopted by the PFMC within one year, and that stock must be brought back to a healthy condition as soon as possible; normally within 10 years, unless the biology of the fish dictates otherwise.

In 2000 the catch of ling cod by commercial and recreational fishermen had exceeded the rebuilding quota by September, and so that fishery was shut down in November and December for all gears. With a huge year class of juvenile ling cod on the grounds now, we should be well into rebuilding that stock in the next year or two. For Bocaccio, the PFMC recommended a one fish bag in 2001, a 10 inch minimum size limit (To prevent pier fishermen from taking the juveniles) and a total impact on the stock from all fisheries of no more than 100 tons. In an effort to assure that take stays within the 100 tons, the PFMC and California Fish & Game will be tracking the catch in-season, and if it appears that catches will exceed the quota, based on catch figures available to the PFMC at their September, 2001 meeting, the Council will be prepared to shut down take of rockfish and ling cod in November and December. Hopefully all recreational anglers, and Partyboats, will avoid bocaccio whenever possible!

Another big issue that the Council grappled with at their November 2000 meeting was how to control the catch and/or mortality of cowcod. Their solution was to create a huge "Cowcod Conservation Area", that consisted of waters deeper than 20 fathoms around the 43 fathom bank, the Cortez Bank, Tanner Bank, Cherry Bank, Osborne Bank, Santa Barbara Island and San Nicholas Island. Waters deeper than 20 fathoms inside these areas are now permanently closed to all take of rockfish and ling cod! This in affect has created a 4,200 mile "marine reserve" of all those areas that were the traditional fishing grounds for rock cod and ling cod!

Some additional restrictions that are in place in 2001 include a January-February closure to all rockfish & ling cod fishing south of Pt. Conception; a March-April closure to all rockfish & ling cod fishing between Pt. Conception and Cape Mendocino; a May-June closure to all shelf rockfish but allow take of nearshore rockfish in less than 20 fathoms in the same management area. In addition, the bag on bocaccio is reduced to 2 fish, canary rockfish bag is one fish, and the number of hooks allowed is reduced from 3 to 2 fish when fishing for rockfish and ling cod. New minimum size limits for several fish were adopted. Cabezon minimum size is now 15 inches, and sheephead minimum size is 12 inches for recreational and 13 inches for commercial.

While all these restrictions will hit fishermen hard, the PFMC had little flexibility in their options, as the federal law, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, is very specific on what actions must be taken to rebuild 'overfished' stocks. Had the Council not acted as it did, the NMFS would have taken over and implemented similar restrictions, or perhaps even taken a more restrictive line.

In an effort to help reduce the pressure on these stocks, the Council is in the process of implementing a "Strategic Plan for the Future of Groundfish", and the top priority in that plan is to reduce the harvest capacity of the commercial groundfish fleet by "at least 50%". If you have interest in the activities of the PFMC, I would encourage you to visit their website at, www.pcouncil.org.

Finally, SAC is involved in an advisory committee that is helping the DFG develop a "Nearshore Fisheries Management Plan". The Plan will control the management and harvest of 19 nearshore rockfish stocks, including: black, black-and-yellow, blue, brown, calico rockfish, china, copper, gopher, grass rockfish, kelp, olive, quillback, treefish, California sheephead, kelp and rock greenling, California Sculpin, and monkeyface eel. When the draft plan is completed, sometime this fall, the Fish & Game Commission will review the draft, hold public hearings, and ultimately adopt the plan and put it into regulation. Allocation of these stocks is part of the plan, and so all recreational and commercial access to nearshore rockfish could be impacted in the future. I encourage all of you who are concerned and interested to stay involved, and be prepared to comment at the Fish & Game Commission hearings on the plan.

Now that the DFG is in the process of implementing the Marine Life Management Act, things are moving rapidly, and so stay tuned! If you have any questions, feel free to call the SAC office at (619 226-6455, or email me at dart@sacemup.org

RECREATIONAL ROCKCOD & LING COD REGULATIONS

SEASON CLOSED SOUTH OF 36 DEGREES LATITUDE (POINT LOPEZ) IN JANUARY AND FEBRUARY. FROM MARCH 1 THRU DECEMBER 31, THE FOLLOWING REGS APPLY: BAG LIMIT - 10 ROCKCOD. WITHIN THE 10 FISH LIMIT, NO MORE THAN 3 BOCACCIO; 1 COWCOD (TWO COWCOD BOAT LIMIT); 2 CANARY ROCKFISH.

NORTH OF 36 DEGREES NORTH, THE CLOSURE IS MARCH AND APRIL. BETWEEN MAY 1 AND THE END OF FEBRUARY, THE BAG LIMIT IS THE SAME EXCEPT FOR THE CANARY ROCKFISH, FOR WHICH THE LIMIT IS 3 FISH.

THE LING COD LIMIT IS TWO, AND THE MINIMUM SIZE IS 26 INCHES.

ADDITIONAL RESTRICTIONS:

NO MORE THAN THREE HOOKS ON A LINE.
FILLETS - MUST LEAVE SKIN ATTACHED TO FILLET.
CABEZON - CANNOT FILLET AT SEA.
MINIMUM SIZE LIMITS WERE ADOPTED FOR THE FOLLOWING

BOCACCIO -- 10 INCHES.
LING COD -- 26 INCHES.
SCULPIN -- 10 INCHES.
KELP GREENLING -- 12 INCHES.
CABEZON -- 14 INCHES.
SAC UPDATE AS OF JANUARY 4, 2000!

FINALLY, THE NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE AND CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FISH & GAME HAVE RECONSIDERED SCULPIN AND AGREED WITH THE SAC ARGUMENT THAT THIS SPECIES SHOULD NOT BE INCLUDED WITH ALL OTHER 'SEBASTES' SPECIES, AND THEREFORE SCULPIN CAN NOW BE TAKEN DURING THE JANUARY-FEBRUARY ROCKFISH CLOSURE!

These regulations will hit the sportfishing industry hard, but the PFMC had little flexibility in their options, as the federal law, the Magnuson Act, is very specific on what actions the Councils must take to rebuild 'overfished' stocks. Had the Council not taken the actions it did, the National Marine Fisheries Service would have certainly gone ahead and overruled the Council and implemented similar restrictions, or perhaps even taken more restrictive actions.

We now have to focus on convincing the Congress of the need to provide sufficient funds to adequately assess these groundfish stocks so that we can document the rebuilding when it occurs. As of the end of July of this year, Congress had a line item for $2 million to provide additional west coast groundfish stock assessments, and our hope is this figure will become part of the base budget allocation for the SW Region of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). In addition, we need to focus more attention from Congress on the fact that many of the commercial fisheries for groundfish are overcapitalized, and we must take steps to reduce the size of these fleets so that when the stocks are rebuilt the harvests will be of a more sustainable nature by smaller fleets. Towards this end Bob Fletcher has been part of an Ad Hoc Groundfish Strategic Planning Committee for the PFMC, and their draft report has been submitted to the Council. At the present time the Council is holding public hearings to receive comments on the report, which can be reviewed on the PFMC website at: www.pcouncil.org. There will be a public hearing on the draft Strategic Plan on Wednesday, August 9, 2000, at 7 PM at the California Department of Fish & Game office in Long Beach. If you want to attend, call the DFG office for directions at (562) 590-5117.

One of the key recommendations in the Strategic Plan is that the PFMC should implement at least a 50% reduction of the limited entry and open access permittees in the groundfish fishery on the west coast! That should get the attention of some of the commercial groundfishing representatives! Following the public hearings, the Council will hear additional public comments and then consider adopting the Strategic Plan as a formal PFMC policy document. This action will take place at the Council's meeting in Sacramento in September. I'll leave you with a quote from the draft Strategic Plan for the Future of Groundfish: "....the Council may find that without overall capacity reduction, status quo allocations would likely result in a broad-based fishery failure."!! The PFMC is on the edge of a cliff; they need to identify a parachute, or face a disaster soon! Stay tuned.

If any of you have additional questions, you can call the SAC office at (619) 226-6455.