Exploring Scaled Management for the California Halibut Fishery Webinar #1: A Focused Discussion for the Recreational Sector Thursday, August 12, 2021 | 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM PDT Small Group Discussion Notes Room 1: Commercial Passenger Fishing Vessel (CPFV) Owners and Operators Participants: - Tim Klassen, Eureka, CPFV owner (six pack), fish Humbolt Bay area mostly, vessel is “Reel Steel” - Sean Anderson, professor, study fishing behavior and what types of seafood are available in coastal ports in CA, likes to spear fish - Eddie Tavasieff, commercial H&L fishermen, San francisco area - Surprised that not many CPFV here, want to be fly on the wall and listen and prepare for the commercial discussion - Santos, CDFW LED, Monterey Bay area - Kristine Lesyna, CDFW - Chuck Valle, CDFW - Sara Shen, Strategic Earth How does California halibut contribute to your personal livelihood? - Tim: Halibut fishing inside Humboldt Bay offers fishing opportunity when there’s rough weather on the ocean - Rough ocean conditions in Humboldt, only able to fish 9 days in the ocean this May bc of weather - Can fish inside calmer Humboldt bay when can’t fish on ocean for other sps like salmon or rockfish - Not many fishery options other than CA halibut inside humboldt bay; we have leopard sharks and bat rays but not another fishery that folks fish on a regular basis so if rough weather then really can’t fish anything - Humboldt bay does not have a consistent CA halibut fishery; halibut would be even more important to personal livelihood if it was consistent - get one large age class, come into bay in May/June and they leave in Nov - May get almost all shorts for a year and then the next year get a mix of shorts/legal and then next year mostly legals but starting to be heavily impacted by fishing pressure, another year or two diminished and not a reliable fishery - Another year class comes and cycle begins again, not sure why this happens? - In last 30 years, seen 3 cycles of good fishing for a few years and then it’s over. - Would last longer if pressure reduced. Bay is small area. Fish go onto flats during high tide, but during low tide they are more concentrated to a smaller geographic area. Exploring Scaled Management for the California Halibut Fishery Webinar #1: A Focused Discussion for the Recreational Sector Thursday, August 12, 2021 | 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM PDT Small Group Discussion Notes - Q for Tim: is there a commercial fishery in humboldt bay? Are there other areas that are fishable for halibut outside the bay? - Really not consistent enough to have a commercial fishery. - Shelter cove and crescent city (south beach) can catch halibut but extremely rarely do we catch CA Halibut outside Humboldt Bay - Q for Tim: When did you first start having a good fishery? - First time I know, about 20 years ago. Fishery really cycles - What do you consider a good season for the fishery? - 30-60 fish per trip (including lots of short fish released), ideally fishery would be consistent and could do daily // fishery occurs about a mile from where boats are tied up so the fuel costs are low and customers don’t get seasick - If reliable year after year it would be a good fishery - What is the average size of the catch? - It depends as the year classes cycle through. This year no undersize, mostly over 22 in and lots up to 30 lbs, with 8 to 15 lb average. - How many CPFVs are operating in Humboldt Bay? - 15 years ago = three CPFVs, and it was that way for 10 years. Then 5 years ago numbers started to increase. - This year, there’s probably 15 (all 6-packs, there are no larger inspected vessels in Humboldt Bay); they have come from various areas (humboldt state graduates from fishery program, big variety of folks in fishery) - What is happening now, salmon fishing on klamath is poor, so river boats on bay has added a lot of pressure - Do you see patronage fluctuate with halibut during up and down years? - Booked May-Oct solid // just a matter of what is available to fish for; if rough, can’t fish and trip is cancelled; if halibut is available, could fish every day - 5 or 6 ppl on CPFV in Humboldt (chuck, in so cal it can be up to 40 or more, depending upon size of vessel) - CPFV operator numbers don’t seem to fluctuate with halibut fishing opportunity - not fishery dependent at all - people see a business and want to try it - Are you seeing a correlation between ca halibut fishing success in Humboldt compared to other areas along coast? - Yes, correlation amongst northern CA ports (shelter cove/crescent city, might be same biomass) - Not seeing correlation with SF bay area Exploring Scaled Management for the California Halibut Fishery Webinar #1: A Focused Discussion for the Recreational Sector Thursday, August 12, 2021 | 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM PDT Small Group Discussion Notes Based on the definition within the MLMA, what does sustainability mean to you? Based on your experience, is California halibut a sustainable fishery? - Consistent fishery would be more important, consistent across years rather than a population that can support itself - Haven’t personally felt relationship between environmental conditions and halibut abundance, doesn’t seem there is a strong correlation- have looked to see if there is - Water temp in bay generally low-to-mid 50s during high tide, later in day/tide out can get to mid-60s - Would support stronger regulations in bay // thinking fish are getting captured, not that they are moving out - Have been told halibut don’t spawn in Humboldt but have seen milting males and females with some eggs // seeing some orange, immature eggs - Eddie- Economics, biological sustainability will support economical sustainability (comm fishermen) - need to discuss and define biological sustainability - Sean- so much of halibut catch is local, key component to sustainability also from restaurant surveys ppl know halibut, its a species that the public has some sense of identify, it gives some opportunities that other fisheries don’t have Consistency year to year Need to support biological sustainability to support economic sustainability How, if at all, is bycatch a concern for the California halibut fishery and/or your livelihood? Tim - Only bycatch issue is the smaller sub-legal fish - people getting better with release methods (use nets that don’t tear tails, try to release in water if you can, don’t let flop on deck while measuring) - Using single hooks (no trap rigs) - Only caught 2 sturgeons in last 30 years, occasional leopard shark and pacific staghorn sculpin Eddie - h&l, commercial- minimal, occasional catch and simple to release what is caught that is not marketable - Surprised to see question, thinking more of a trawl fishery question/issue - A recreational sector member was mentioning a boat limit, will this be a part of discussion? Brought up to commercial fisher Exploring Scaled Management for the California Halibut Fishery Webinar #1: A Focused Discussion for the Recreational Sector Thursday, August 12, 2021 | 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM PDT Small Group Discussion Notes - Tim: CPFV operators strongly oppose boat limit. You wind up with worst fishermen on boat trying to catch last fish so you can go home. How, if at all, are changing ocean conditions (in the past 20 years) impacting the California halibut fishery and/or your livelihood? Tim - Haven’t seen a big change, have seen cycles of forage fish in the bay (anchovy, herring, sardine) but haven’t seen any other issues - Have seen weather cycles (el nino, etc.) but hasn’t seen changes on a larger scale - See occasional rare fish that doesn’t normally show up but generally those are on same currents that bring over albacore, have seen this warm current come in close some years and farther offshore other years - Not seeing consistent year after year Eddie - Seen a lot of changes over years - White seabass showed up over last 20 years // adds to livelihood and increases opportunity - Has seen diversity change and subsequent market change, not sure if climate change but yes changing ocean conditions - SF bay right now, really warm waters - Seeing red crabs and other animals that don’t belong in bay - Affects livelihood, seeing change in species association w change in ocean conditions - Always change, dynamic Based on your understanding of the California halibut fishery, do you have recommendations related to the sustainability of the resource, bycatch, habitat, climate change, and/or socioeconomics? - Seeing more participation in fishery up here so would support 2 fish limit in Humboldt Bay - No CPFV makes 2 trips a day in Eureka, and no plans for it // trying to make fishery last longer - Don’t see benefit of comm fishery in HB, not consistent year after year, no one making a living // sell off street, in stands Exploring Scaled Management for the California Halibut Fishery Webinar #1: A Focused Discussion for the Recreational Sector Thursday, August 12, 2021 | 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM PDT Small Group Discussion Notes - Sean: Different trajectories in n/s areas, hope recommendations will recognize regional differences and not be a one size fits all for the state - Ed: wanted to discuss limited entry options for CPFVs (but ran out of time in breakout room session) Exploring Scaled Management for the California Halibut Fishery Webinar #1: A Focused Discussion for the Recreational Sector Thursday, August 12, 2021 | 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM PDT Small Group Discussion Notes Room 2: Environmental Governmental and Non-Governmental Organizations, and Native Nations Participants: Julia Coates, CDFW Greg Helms, Ocean Conservancy Kirsten Ramey, CDFW Paul Reilly, CDFW Huff McGonigal, RLF Gilly Lyons, Pew Charitable Trusts Sherry Flumerfelt Noah Ben-Aderet, OPC Geoff Shester, Oceana Gary Burke, bycatch working group, recreational and commercial fisher Andy Rasmussen, Seafood producer in Santa Barbara How does California halibut contribute to your personal livelihood? - Kirsten: Fishers for halibut in Humboldt.