Onboard sampling of the rockfish and lingcod commerical passenger fishing vessel industry in northern and central California, January through December 1995

摘要

The Central California Marine Sport Fish Project has been collecting angler catch data on board Commercial Passenger Fishing Vessels (CPFVs) fishing for rockfish or lingcod since 1987. The program depends on the voluntary cooperation of CPFV owners and operators. This fifth report in a series presents data collected in 1995, refers to historical data from 1987 to 1994, and documentsudtrends in species composition, angler effort, catch per unit effort (CPUE), and, for selected species, mean length, and length frequency.udAngler catches on board central and northern California CPFVs were sampled from 12 ports, ranging from Fort Bragg in the north to Port San Luis (Avila Beach) in the south. Technicians observed a total of 1829 anglers fishing on 218 CPFV trips. These observed anglers caught 26,197udfish of which samplers determined 22,888 were kept. Over 62% of these fish were caught at Monterey or Morro Bay area ports. Only 18 of 55 species comprised at least one percent of the catch. The top ten species in order of abundance were yellowtail, blue, olive, and rosy rockfishes, lingcod, and canary, widow, gopher, starry, and vermilion rockfishes. Blue and yellowtail rockfishes together comprised approximately 47% of the observed catch. Overall, rockfishes represented 35 species or 64% of the 55 identified species. By number, rockfishes comprised 91.9 % of the observed catch.udAll CPUE and length data collected since 1987 were partitioned into six location groups for each port area, based on a combination of location, bottom depth, and distance from the nearest port. This allowed examination of indicator trends without potential biases due to non-random trip selection or ontogenetic changes in depth distribution for certain rockfishes. Results indicate thatudthe two primary species in the northern and central California CPFV fishery, blue and yellowtailudrockfishes (accounting for 47% of all observed fish in 1995), are in reasonably good condition with no steady declines in either average catch per angler hour or mean length during the last 8 years. The primary species of concern are mainly shallow-water species impacted by a recently expanded commercial hook-and-line fishery or deep-water species (chilipepper and bocaccio) which are fished intensively by the commercial industry and have experienced recent statewide stock declines.udEstimated total rockfish catch, adjusted by logbook compliance rates and on board sampling data, has declined significantly in all port areas since 1992. This is largely attributable to increased recreational fishing effort for salmon as well as coast-wide stock declines in several important commercially fished species. (112pp.)