LI BWRY Moss Landing Marine Laboratories P
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Preliminary report on the ability of marine recreational fishermen to identify the more commonly caught sportfish Item Type monograph Authors Wine, Vickie L. Publisher California Department of Fish and Game, Marine Resources Region Download date 05/10/2021 09:44:48 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/1834/18043 State of California The Resources Agency DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME . LI BWRY Moss Landing Marine Laboratories P. 0. Box 223 Moss Landing, Calif. 95039 PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE ABILITY OF MARINE RECREATIONAL FISERMEN TO IDENTIFY THE MORE COMMONLY CAUGHT SPORTFISH by Vickie L. Wine MARINE RESOURCES Administrative Report NO: 79-14 December 1979 . PRELIMINARY REPORT ON TIIE ABILITY OF INRINE RECREATIONAL, FISHERMEN TO IDENTIFY THE ElOKE COMMONLY CAIJGIIT SPOKTFISIL-11 Vickie L. Wine-2 / ABSTRACT Fishermen on pLers and privately-owned boats in southern California were surveyed to determine their ability to identify (by common name) 18 of the more commonly caught sportfish. Anglers were shown color photographs of the fish and asked to identify them. Most people were not able to identify more than 5 dr 6 species correctly. The number of incorrect responses (calling one species by another's name, or using a non-recommended coinrnon name) was not high. Instead, it was the level of non-response (the fisherman had no idea what the species was) that was surprisingly high. The results of the survey indicate that. anglers are not familiar with th-e names of the fish they are most likely to catch. This has serious implicatioi~sconcerning our fishery management programs which depend on anglers' compliance with fishing regulations. The effectiveness of the programs depends in part on anglers being able to recognize regulated species when encountered. -11 Marine Resources Region, Administrative Report No. 79-14, December 1979. -21 Marine Resources Region, California -State ~isheriesLaboratory, . 350 Golden Shore, Long Beach, California 90802. INTRODUCTION During Septenlber-October, 1979, the California Ilcpartment of Fish and Game initiated a preliminary survey on the ability of marine anglers to identify comnlon fish species. The purpose of the initial study was to develop a methodology and to refine the focus for a subsequent study. This future study will be done in two parts, one in the winter and one in the summer of 1980, and it will focus on the ability of pier and private-boat anglers to identify the fish species which are mentioned in the 1979 California Sport Fishing Regulations. However, there is a need to make-the results of the preliminary angl-er- survey l<nown now. The Department is currently participating in a federally- funded angler-survey ?/ directed by the National ~arineFisheries Service. In this survey, anglers are asked for "the names of the species you caught ....I1 Although the question itself is valid, we feel that the answers could be greatly misleading. Therefore, the preliminary results of this fish identification study are being presente.d. The results will show which fish are easily recognized, which fish are relatively unknown, whether the common names recornended by the Department are being used by the public, how many different names are used for the same fish, and how many different fish are given the same name. OPERATIONS Color photographs of freshly-caught, marine fish species that are commonly taken in the' coastal waters off Los Angeles and Orange Counties were shown to anglers on public fishing piers and at private-boat launching facilities in the same area. Each pier or ramp was sampled once for -3/ Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey a period of 4-8 hs-. Every fourth fisl>e~.manon a pier and onu randomly chosen fisherman on each boat was askc:d iT he/slle wauld participate in a fish-identiiicati.on survey. Anglers wcrc then s!!oxrn a series of 18 - 8x10 in. color photographs and asked to name each fish or the group of fanlily it belongs in. Correct answers were given to the flsh:l~man only after tlic test was completed. All Inter-~iewswere given ere the answers trould not be heard by the next angler to be interviewed. The 18 species 1zc.7-e Atr;actsscicn -zobitis,x-hif~ seabass; Cculo- Zutilus p~inceps,o( can wh-itefish; EmbLoi,o.?c?:jac:ksoni, black surfperch; Genyoncmus Zineatt;~, white croaker ; MecliaZvna cnli~m~;.lict?sia,113.1 Emoon: Para2abra.z: cZathrai-us, kelp bass ; P. ni~cz/liz;+f~'iczi~rtzia,spotted sand bass; P. xebulifer, barred s;11d bass; Fom~lich-l-hgscaZifolulicus, California halibut ; Sarda chiliensis, F~cific boni to ; Scornbs~japonicus, Pacific mackerel; Scu~?pao?zagzr.-f;tuZatc, sculpin or- eccrpionfish; Sebastas ynoodei, S. serranoides, 01ivc rockfish; S~Y?~~~Z:LCp3 4.~?,~zcs, queen£ ish; and Sphyz.ae-r,u argepztea, Cal iforrtis bprracuda . RI3SULTS A total of 402 fisl1ermi3~1of all ages and deg~e2sof fishing e2:perjence were shown the sane scrkes of photogrzplts. These anglers gave us 190- different names 50:- the 13 fish sp?cles. The names can be sorted into several categories: 1) correct (i.e. rccommendt?d by the Departrient) comon nnme or variation thereof. Exrimple : call ing a California barracuda a bazracuda. 2) incorrect cr non-rccomended cornrnon name. Example : Calling a white croaker by its wi.dely-csed, nan-rcconnended name, tomcod.. 3) mis-identification of 2 fish. Exmplc: calling a California barracuda a shark. 4) newly-invented common sxarnes, whereby an angler calls a fish by a name which cannot be correlated to any known species found in California. Example: calling a white croaker a smokefish. In this survey a correct answer is designated as the identification of a fish by its recommended comrion name, or by its family or group name. Anglers averaged 5 and 6 correct answers at piers and launch ramps re- spectively. If we accepted widely-used, but con-recommended common names as correct answers, that average would be raised by only one. There were six species which were easily recogni.zed and properly named over half the time: Pacific bonito, correctly named by 76% of the anglers; California barracuda and Caliiosnia halibut, 75%; Pacific mackerel, 65%; sculpi~l,59%; aatl 'uasied sa~dbass (reiognlzed as a bass .of some sort), 52%. Four species were recognized about one-third of the time, if the widely-used, non-recommended corrimon names arc counted as correct answers: spotted sand bass (recognized as a bass of some sort), 36%; white croaker (accepting tomcod as a correct answer), 36%; kelp bass (recognized as a bass of some sort), 33%; and chilipepper (accepting red snapper as a correct answer), 31%. The remaining eight species were poorly recognized. The queenfish and blu'e rockfish were frequently mis-identified, and the other species were simply unfamiliar to the anglers. There are a number of responses which were counted as neither correct not incorrect since thei~use was very ambiguous. These names,.such as seabass, rockbass, and seatrout, were not used consistently ' for i; specific' fislr species or group. The tern rockl~acswas used alll~ostequal ly in rcfcrerlce to bass (,nC,r.aZn71raxspp.) at; 1.0 rockfish (Sebaates spp. ) . OL?c rnlgl~texpect that tha tern, scnbass xsould be used to refer to the tihi te ser,bnss, but it was ~aecifor hlss, rockfish, croakers (faxily Scla~nid?e),znd occan whitcflnh. Probably the r.lo~t.;-ticused ns;re in the x-hole curvey was bass. It seems to be a catch-all tcrm ustd in rej at3ion to almost any type ok fish. Although tl-c-i,: were only ihrec p!-cturc F ol: bass .in the suxvcy, every species except b31-racurta, boniio, acci halibut was referred to as a bass by a subctantrizl proport.ion of the c;ngJel-e. Tile. p~-obebilityof an angler using the tcrn bass cor;rictly In tIJis survey \?as 0.60. A list of all the naws a110 the frequencirs :~lthwhich they were used for e~7chof the 18 spe~+icsjs pr~se~ltedin t1:c Appendix. DLSCUSSICiN It is reaiizei ~1r;:i 1.;1~: ~t;:~c~i';soi ihis ELL VC> arc n~~tclc1inli;vt. or irrefutable. An angle:-'s: a.bi1i.t-y to recognizr: fi.oh from pi.ctures. is not necessarily the snme as if he ve.re yresqnLcd with live or freshly-caught fish. Wc mzotc no adjustrcent fcr the fact that we int-e-rvicwed avid fj.shexsen more pf ten than occclsional fishermen, and that expcrierzced finl:ener:n presum:rbly kr:ow irtol-e about fish, identification than inexperienced f%~hel:i;~endo, Also, the p1iotograp:ls of 01-ive rockfish, kelp bass, and black surfperclz were not: as good as they c.ould have been. These factors will be taken into Zccount rin the future survey. IIowever, I feel that the pre1,irninary resu1.t~do give an indication of a pressing need to educate angiers. A valid fishery management program cannot be effective u:lj.esr anglers arc I) aware that the take of certain fish species is rcgul-ated, 2) able to recognize the regulated species when encountered, an5 3) willing to comply with the fishing regu7 ations. ess these conditions are met, fishery conservation pold.cies are worthless. It is the fishermen who hold the power to enhance or deplete sport fish stocks. This survey also gives evidence that any program which attempts to estimate the sport catch of figh.by asking .anglers how nany and what kinds of fish they caught, will suffer from kck of credibility. In conclusioil, the re~illtsof this survey seem to verjfy the truth of an old adage which says, "don't believe all those fish stories you hezr." 277 people (69%) had no idea what the fish was --Narnes givan --No.