Southern California independent sport fishing survey Quarterly Report no. 10 Item Type monograph Authors Wine, Vickie L. Publisher California Department of Fish and Game, Marine Resources Region Download date 28/09/2021 04:37:15 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/1834/18018 State of California The Resources Agency DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME jpn A k - 3 :.,p.,W\/ hh~LmSltirig iLd*pii>s Laboratories P. 0. i3u/( 223 k Landtng, Calif. 95039 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INDEPENDENT SPORT FISHING SURVEY QUARTERLY REPORT NO. 10 by Vickie L. Wine . MARINE RE SOURCES Administrative Report No. 78-6 1 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INDEPENDENT SPORT FISHING SURVEY -/ QUARTERLY REPORT NO. 10 Vickie L. Wine -2/ ABSTRACT During the October 1 - December 31, 1977 quarter, 28 launch ramps, hoists, and boat rental locations were sampled a total of 294 times. During the sample days 11,942 anglers and 1,025 divers were interviewed. They expended 83,882 effort-hours and landed 36,741 fishes and other organisms of 163 identified species. The ten most commonly landed species were 1) Pacific mackerel, Scomber japonieus, 16%; 2) white croaker, Genyonemus tineatus, 16%; 3) olive rockfish, Sebastes serranoides, 6%; 4) blue rockfish, S. mystinus, 4%; 5) halfmoon, Mediatuna catiforniensis, 4%; 6) Pacific bonito, Sarda chitiensis, 3%; 7) rock scallop, Hinnites muZtirugosus, 2%; 8) chilipepper, Sebastes goodei, 2%; 9) greenspotted rockfish, S. chZorostictus, 2%; and 10) kelp bass, Paratabrm ctathratus, 2%. -1/ Marine Resources Region, Administrative Report No. 78-6 May 1978. I 2/ Marine Resources Region, California State Fisheries Laboratory, I 350 Golden Shore, Long Beach, California 90802. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INDEPENDENT SPORT FISHING SURVEY QUARTERLY REPORT NO. 10 INTRODUCTION This is the third year of the Southern California Independent Sport Fishing study' conducted by the California Department of Fish and Game in cooperation with the National Marine Fisheries Service. The purposes of the study are to estimate effort levels expended by sport anglers and divers fishing from privately owned boats, to estimate the magnitude and species composition of their catch, and to determine the degree of sport fishermen's compliance with size limit regulations. This information is used to evaluate the impact of private-boat sport fishermen on southern California's marine resources. OPERATIONS The sampling plan consists of a program of random field sampling at the major launch ramps, hoists, and boat rental locations from San Diego to Santa Barbara Counties. Sampling is conducted on all weekends and holidays and on randomly chosen weekdays in accordance with avail- able manpower. Field samplers remain at sampling locations from 1000 to 1800 hours, and an effort is made to interview all returning anglers and divers. Information on length of fishing trip, number of fishing poles used, and number of people angling or diving is gathered along with the identification and enumeration of all fishes, molluscs, crabs, and lob- sters in possession (no data are requested about species caught but not kept). An attempt is made to measure all species with legal size re- quirements. Eight other species are also measured to provide data for life history studies. Sampling sites are located in Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego Counties. During the quarter we sampled 18 launch ramps, 5 boat hoists, and 5 boat rental locations. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION During the October 1 - December 31, 1977 quarter, 28 launch ramps, hoists, and boat rental locations were sampled 294 times. During the sample days 11,942 anglers and 1,025 divers were interviewed. They ex- pended 78,447 angler-trip-hours 31 and 5,435 diver-trip-hours -3/ , and landed 36,741 fishes and other organisms of 163 identified species as ' well as 1,035 unidentified f ikleted fishes (Table 1). Effort Angler effort decreased this quarter to less than one-half of the summertime level. This was due to an abrupt decline soon after Labor Day in the number of vacationing fishermen. Weather conditions remained conducive to fishing until late December when a series of storms brought fishing activity to a standstill. Diving activity decreased by almost one-half during this time. Effort levels were high in October when the season opened for California spiny lobster, PanuZimcs interruptus, a favorite catch of divers. Very few anglers ventured out on weekdays during this quarter. The ratio of weekend to weekday anglers changed from 4:l during the summer quarter to 7:l during the fall quarter. Catch Until this quarter, white croaker had been the most frequently landed species throughout the 2+ years this survey has been conducted. But the entrance of the very strong 1976 year class of Pacific mackerel into the local fishery nudged the white croaker out of its number-one position. The Pacific mackerel catch just barely topped -31 The unit of effort is 1 hour of trip time per angler or diver. Adjustments are made for those using more than one fishing pole concurrently. that of the white croaker though; they both constituted 16% of the identified catch. The rockfishes, Sebastes spp., which are usually the mainstay of the sportfishery during the winter months, contributed 31% of the total caFch. Samplers identified 163 species of fishes, crusta- ceans, molluscs, coelenterates, and echinoderms, of which 49 species accounted for 95% of the identified catch (Table 2). The ten most commonly landed species were 1) Pacific mackerel, 16%; 2) white croaker, 16%, 3) olive rockfish, 6%; 4) blue rockfish, 4%; 5) halfmoon, 4%; 6) Pacific bonito, 3%; 7) rock scallop, 2%; 8) chili- pepper, 2%; 9) greenspotted rockfish, 2%; and 10) kelp bass, 2%. In Santa Barbara County two-thirds of the catch was composed of . rockfishes, although Pacific mackerel was the most frequently landed single species (Table 3). Divers brought in very good catches of lob- sters, rock scallops, and red abalones, HaZiotis rufescens. Rockfishes were also predominant in the Ventura County catch, but white croaker, Pacific mackerel, and Pacific sanddab, Citharichthys sordidus, were taken in substantial numbers. Divers concentrated their efforts on lobsters; rock scallops, pink abalones, HaZiotis corrugata; and California sheephead, PimeZometopon puZchmun. Pacific mackerel and white croaker vied for first place in the Los Angeles County catch; Pacific mackerel narrowly won. The two species accounted for nearly one-half of, the county's identified catch. Rockfishes contributed only a small portion of the catch (19%). As is usual for this area in the fall and winter months, halfmoon; black surfperch, Embiotoca jacksoni; and queenfish, Seriphus politus, were landed frequently. The Orange County catch was composed mainly of surface fishes. Pacific mackerel and white croaker contributed 23% of the catch, and Pacific sanddabs, Pacific bonito, kelp bass, and barred sand bass, Pmatabrax nebulifer, were landed frequently. There was not a lot of diving activity in the area, but good catches of rock scallops were landed by the few divers who did venture out. Olive rockfish was the most commonly landed fish in San Diego County. The rockfish family contributed 37% of the catch, but surface fishes such as white croaker, Pacific mackerel, barred sand bass, Pacific bonito, and ocean whitefish, CauZoZatiZus princeps, composed more than I one-fourth of the total catch. Divers landed substantial catches of red abalones, rock scallops, California sheephead, and green abalones, I Catch Per Unit of Effort The catch per unit of effort (CPUE) for anglers ranged from 0.12 I to 0.91 fishlangler-trip-hour (Table 4). The best catch successes in the sampled region were, as usual, in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. In these areas the target species are rockfishes, which are readily available to anglers. In Los Angeles County the large catches of Pacific mackerel and white croaker resulted in a higher CPUE value than normal for this time of year. Some Orange County and San Diego County anglers spent much time searching for marlin, Tetraptumcs spp., which lowered the CPUE values for these areas. The CPUE values for divers ranged from 0.14 to 1.92 (Table 5) . Divers in Los Angeles County fared best, averaging 0.95 organismsldiver- trip-hour. In Santa Barbara, Orange, and Ventura Counties the CPUE values averaged 0.69, 0.68, and 0.66 respectively. San Diego County divers averaged 0.61 organisms/diver-trip-hour. Length Frequencies The proportion of legal size fishes sampled during the quarter dropped somewhat compared with the previous quarter's data. Favored game species be.came less available to anglers at this time of year, and the temptatioh to retain "short" fishes was great. The percentage of legal kelp bass taken fell from 87 during the summer to 73 during the fall. Al- though the percentage of legal barred'sand bass remained the same, the pro- portion of legal spotted sand bass, ParaZabrax macuZatofasciatus, dropped 10% One-half of all California halibut, ParaZichthys caZifomicus, measured were sub-legal (Table 6). Abalones, HaZiotis spp., averaged 91% legals, and less than 3% of the lobsters measured were'sub-legal. ESTIMATES We estimated 41,000 angler days and 3,200 diver days were spent fish- ing in southern California marine waters during October through December 1977 (Tables 7 and 8). This represents a decrease of about two-thirds of the angler effort and two-fifths of the diver effort expended during the summer quarter. An estimated 115,000 fishes were landed by anglers, and divers brought back 12,000 fishes, abalones, and other organisms. Two species,. the Pacific mackerel and the white croaker, formed the largest component of the catch, with an estimated 20,000 Pacific mackerel and 20,000 white croaker landed. Almost 80% of the catch of these species was landed in Los Angeles and Orange Counties. The rock- fish family contributed 39,000 fishes--nearly one-third of the estimated catch.