FISH & GAME COMMISSION REGULATIONS CLOSING THE WHITEFISH FISHERY NOT IN EFFECT! NEW RECREATIONAL DATA SYSTEM TO GO INTO EFFECT

While the Fish & Game Commission acted to close the take of white fish to conform to the rock fish closure, it appears that the regulation was never filed with the Secretary of State, which means recreational take of white fish will be allowed for the near future. In addition, the ‘infamous' Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey (MRFSS) will finally die, to be replaced with a new data system. The Fish & Game Commission acted to close the rock fish fishery in California at their recent meeting in Sacramento , but after taking the vote, several members of the Commission expressed their anger and frustration with the recreational catch information that was used to justify the closure. The MRFSS system has been criticized for years as incapable of providing the accuracy necessary for in-season management. Notwithstanding the questions surrounding the MRFSS, the Department recommended that the Commission act to conform to the federal rules, citing the fact that the PFMC had already acted and that overfished species such as canary rockfish and ling cod needed special precautionary management.

SAC was part of the meeting that led to the Commission action, and expressed severe misgivings with using such a discredited data system to take anglers off the water. We also urged the Commission to provide constant and comprehensive oversight on the Department as they switch to a “better” data system in 2004. The DFG's new system, known as the ‘California Recreational Fisheries Survey' (CRFS), includes the following:

•  Integration of California 's current marine recreational sampling programs into one system; •  Reporting of catch and effort at a finer geographical resolution;
•  Estimation of private/rental (PR) vessel effort using an on-site approach'
•  Estimation of beach/bank and private access angler effort using an angler
license database with the frame built from one out of every 20 licenses;
•  Continuation of the Commercial Passenger Fishing Vessel (CPFV) phone survey with effort.
•  Augmentation of CPFV phone surveys with effort data collected directly From the landings and CPFV logbooks;
•  Increased creel sampling for PR and CPFV vessels'
•  Estimation of effort and catch on man-made structures using Instantaneous angler counts, roving effort (pressure) surveys, and creel Surveys;
•  Reporting of effort and catch estimates for all modes at monthly intervals;
•  Sufficient sampling of PRs to meet ocean salmon management data Requirements, including the collection of coded wire tags.

The Department assures us that, “The primary goal of the program will be to produce in a timely manner marine recreational, fishery-based data needed to sustainably manage California 's marine recreational fishery resources.” SAC can only hope that this will be the case, and to ground-truth this new system SAC plans on working with other recreational fishery organizations to assist in providing the ‘comprehensive' oversight to make sure the data reflects what we think is the reality on the water.