SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA F3AXINE SPORT FISHING from PRIVATELY-Objbted BOATS; CATCEI and EFFORT for JANUARY-MARCH 1981
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Southern California marine sport fishing from privately- owned boats; Catch and effort for January-March 1981 Item Type monograph Authors Wine, Vickie; Racine, Denyse Publisher California Department of Fish and Game, Marine Resources Region Download date 25/09/2021 03:13:24 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/1834/18388 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA F3AXINE SPORT FISHING FROM PRIVATELY-ObJbTED BOATS; CATCEI AND EFFORT FOR JANUARY-MARCH 1981 by Vickic Wine and Denyse Racine MARINE RE SOURCES Administrative Report No. 81-6 SOUTIJERN CALIFORNIA IItZlIINE SPORT 171 Slif NG EI?OM PR TVATELY-OWNED BOATS ; CATCH AND EFFOR'I' FOR JANUAKY-NAlICI-I 195 1 -1/ by Vickie Wine -21 and Denyse Racine -3 / ABSTRACT The catch landed and effort exrended by ljrivate-boat sport fishermenwere studied in southern California between January and Flarch 1951, in order to determine the impact of one segment of the sport fishery on local marine resources. FisElermcn returning froln fishing trips were interviewed at launch ramps, hoists, and boat rental facilities. This report contains quantitative data and statistical estimates of total eCfort, tot:il catch, catch of preferred species, and length frequencies for tilose species xrhose catches are regulated by minimum size limits An estimated 139,000 organisms were landed by 45,000 anglers and 1,900 divers. The major components of the catch were Pacific mackerel, Scornber japonicus, 29,000 landed ; white cro~lccr, Genyonetnzis Lineatus, 27,000 landed ; and Pacific bonito, Sard? chiZiensis, 13,000 landed. These three species con~prisedone-half of the total catch. Anglers' compliance with size limit regulations was variable. Approximately 87% of all measured bass, Pm~aZabraxspp.,,were legal size, but only 60% of the California halibut, Paralichthys californicus, were legal size. Divers showed much better compliance with the size limit regulations: 96% of all red abalone, HaZiotis rufescens, were legal size. -I/ Marine Resources Region, Administrative Report No. 81-6 -2/ Marine Resoiurces Region, California State Fisheries Laboratory, 350 Golden Shore, Long Beach, California 90802. -3/ ~arineResources Region, 1350 Front Street, Room 6042, San Diego, California 92101. hCKNtll.?L,E CGPII': MT This worlc was performed as part of Dingell-3okin:;on project F-35-R, the Southern Ca1iforrli.a Marine Sportfish Monitoring Progz.:?rn, which was supported in part by Fccleral Aid to Fish Restoration Funds. 1NTRODUCICIO;J . l?rcreriti.ons~l. flsh~ngnct:i.vities i.n sou!:licrn C.llifornia inarirlc waters ai;?ecil the aLunilancc of 1cic:il Eisll populatioris artd also i1.1Eluencc r,1igr,tr?rg Ei.sh populations. ' To dctecmi.ne the extent of these fishing activities the Cepzr t:ae:it: of F i::h and (kine stucli.cd onc segnleut of the recrcati.o~lal Ei:;i-iery: fislierrneil 11si-rtg p7.-ivatcly--o:'rncii, trai.1.crabl.e boats. The s trrdy b!.gzn ir; 1975 anti cor~ti~-,uedf(?c i-'rlrce years. During t:'n;i fi?l.l.oviing tbro ye.?rs lack of pe~-soi-~~clcai:seJ temporary cc?ssation of the study. fiowevec, in 1980 this con:straint was rr-:niovt.t:l arid the silutly began again. Tlic major p:rrposes ot' the .stud;( ci~?i:e ti, t?st-:i,!a te effort ?cv-?l.s expended by ailglers ar:d divers, to estimate the magnit~tdea~i~l sp?cie?.s cc~!-[~posi:tion of the catch 5y 'shesc: fishermen, arld to assess the degree of sport: f.lshern:enls coapl-iance with size linit regi~lations. The izlEorri:ati.on generated by this st:uily provides 1) a baseline study fo; furure comparison of catch and effort t~enJs,2) evidence for addi.ng, de- leti.rlg, or charigi.ng fishing regulations, 3) a11 -i.r!~.:!icatio:l of fishing pressllrz on vnr.i.ous spec+.cs, and 4) supportive nateri-1 for utller ,zgcncies to u,5e :;hen assessing pro;)osed acti.oi~ that co:~ldaffect soutliern C;ilifi?rnials living innrink. rec;ources. 'Tile results of tke study foc11s .qtteution on areas OPF,I?ATT0bJS Szilp ling Plan The sampling plan co~nsistedof a program of raEdorn field sxrnpling at sc lccted lauilc.11 ramps, hoists, and bor;t reintzl Ear: ili ties i.u T,os Angeles, Orang?, and S;in Diego Counties. S;;iuPl-ing was coiit1ui:tetI o-i ail weekends and l~ol.ida~s,,arid oil randomly chosen weekclays iil accorda~?cer.r ith avn i lable rnanpo1rc.r. Fi.eld s,-implers rcrilained at the sample 10c;itio~sf r~in1GOO hrs ' to 1800 hrs a-nd an attempt was made to interview 311 returning anglers an.1 di:rers. Information on. longth of angling tri-p, nii~nber of Ilours spent div- + ing, .number of fishing poles used, ancl nurnber of people angl-ing or diving was gat:tir:recl along with the identiL'icatiou and enunlerati-on of all fishes, molluscs, crabs, and 1-obsters in possession (no data were requested about species caught br~tnot kept). An attempt >>asmade to measure all spcci-es with lcgnl mi-nimum sizc requirements. Sarnpl ilig Locat ions There are five counties noimnlly ccvered in the survey: Sants Barbara, Ventura, T,os Angeles, Orange, and San Di-ego. We began sampling Los Angeles Cout~tyin the sunmer oE 1980, and slo~qlyexpanded the sampling frame to in- clude other counties as additional personnel cornpletecl 111-a-ini-ng as field samplers The information presented in this report is for Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego counties. Statistical Ana1ysi.s Data were +I-~ersgedon a daily hnsis for each county, then expanded to estimate the total catch or effort for each county, each month. Estimates were calculated scpacatel-y for ~~~eekendsa-iir! weekdays. Catch estirxates were made for each species which has a legal mi.nimum size l-irt~it,the twenty most ccjiiiinonly landed species, the Sebastes, genus, and for the to~alnumber of fish landed. 'll!ct 111rmber of hi>;lts tllat Ief t a santpl ing area .;iithou t be ing ii-iterviewed was recorded, providiag an adjust~uen~factor for the day's total catch or cffort. aSUI,TS AND DILSCUSSION Data Samples Diii-i-ng the Jan~rary1 - Plnrcl~31, 1981 quarter, 15 1au11ch i-anips, 2 boat hoists, and 3 boat rental 1oc:itions were sampled 285 times. Samplers inter- viewed 10,115 anglers and 400 divers who spent 61,98O angler- trip-.hours--4 / ----- --- -4/ The unit of anslr~effol-t is one hour of trip-time per angler. Adjustments are made for those using more than one fishing pole concurrently. .-xa-rjnn-wpun 3ur;ds -xrlorl auo ST 3;roj;ga ;rar,? p 30 7 Tun aq;~ ---..__-___-._.-.----.---------.-- -- ___/i- ' -dds .rvjcltq-u,I:')j 's seg *q33t?3 PS~SIBUI-LJS~aqj 21 o B~I~~~C~;J~LLU~ps;lui:-l: SUM ' 'cldti s~?sD(~~s' SE)II::;.~~~~J 30 X~~TJCA;)QIT:I ti ' ~.?.S.~.!~?:Z:/.I/Z13pcri7s ' ~~-;un(! i Xq P~~LLVL~J~LI sw;;;uz>~o 001 '5 pa~~v.~>:is~up PLIU SJ~I-L?.LL$? E~UICIJ-! TVL) UJJYJII"~ E I dq paliuri aJam SIUS?~~P~.IOday20 piIc says !J 9~0'4~11JO ~E'JOJ 1)alt'~uf:lsauy I i u~ *sJ.:)ii;p dcl ~ilZno:: sa'raacls asoil2 or] pa2~t:s~s2q a-xaria :?LJ-;C!Fii axoq::g 70 t ; b atiq ;)sIIv~~~i;2~1no3 oh'syu ueS uf pa~eu-~2:lor)zo33a S'u-!:.rl? aqz 30 jlori laA0 i I .(+l-C S"j;0,L'J4) X7ur:03 02i3~~UP:; u? (jg0' c-i pL1:: IXr)i1""3 ;I~u:??-IO IT-! g(~()' Id~~?irc)~ f -- 4 - accounted for 11Z of the catch; while other preferred sport fish species such as California halibut, Pil:-ralichthys craliffirnicus; Californ-ia bnrra- ct~da,,7phy.rae~zt,z nj.gal,z-tea ; white scabass, ~t-?~actocc?~u%nobizis ; ant1 lingcod, 0ph.iodon elonga-tus, con.tributed only I% of the catch. The most co~~~nonlylanded species in the diver catch was red abalone, ilnlio-tis r~~fe:;cens,with an estimated 1,600 landed. Abalone season was c los cd be tvecn inid--Januiiry asld mi.d--$farcll , ancl ITew abal.one were landed d-i~r- ing this time. Divers also landed an estimated 1,000 rock scal.l.ops, :k:7?nites rnul-l-irt~gosus;7130 Ca1.i fornia sheepliericl , S 600 Cailfornia spiny lobs i:er, iDniiulirt{,s-inte;~i*tipt-1.1s (before the lobster sea- son cl-osed in mid-~arch). Variation- by County More than twice as inany fishes were I-atlded By anglers in Los Angeles . Coun%y (85,000) than in. either of the other two counties sampled. IJhite croalcer and Paci-fic mackerel. were tied for- first place in the catch, both coiltributing 23%. Rockfishes and Pacif.i.c bonito eath contr<'buzc:d app.c3xi- mately 15% of the catch. The rc~nainin~244 of the catch was cornposed of a large variety of species. A-pproximsi:eJ.y 6,000 preferred game fishes were landed, three-Eourths of w11ich were bass. Since two-thirds of the Z,os Angeles County coast was closed to abalone fishing, most divers scught California spi~iylobster, sca.llop, arltl sheephead. An estirnat~edtotal of 1,300 organisms was landed by divers. Orange Col~i~t:.yanglcr landings were the I.CJILTCS~in the san~pledarea. Half of the csti-inated 16,500 fishes laladed by anglers w fishes, and Pnci fic ~nac.kt=:rcl. I,esl-; th.311 3,1100, preferred game fishes were l.=tnded, nearly all oE whi.cI1 were bass.