Kalifornia Salmon Closed, Now Rock Fish Too

[Crab Pot]

SACRAMENTO IS OUT OF CONTROL...

https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/CNRA/bulletins/36c0c95

[Brewcrafter]

These types of restrictions are nothing new.  The California rockfish fishery has been hit hard (yes, I will say overfished) for a loooong time. - john

[Swami805]

There was a huge take of near shore rockfish for the live fish market along the entire ca coast 20+ years ago. Anyone with a dingy, a trash can with water in it and a $50 license jumped in and it was on. Fish that brought in 80 a pound dead were now going for $6-$8 a pound live. It was unrestricted for quite a while and got pounded really hard. Later they put in monthly quotas but the damage had been done and some never really recovered, especially the slower growing fish. They should have stepped in sooner but here we are now. Hope it works and we see some of these species recover

[jurelometer]

Closed?

Looks like inshore rockfish is closed but outside of 50 fathom is still open.  The kayak crowd can't be happy.  They need that inshore fishery.

I remember that not too long ago, deep water was closed and inshore was open in order to help rebuild the canary population.

Just too much human population here. Fishing pressure is inevitable.  Zero management would be a disaster.  Rockfish are tricky to manage.   I would suggest a better management plan if I knew what that was.

-J

[Cor]

I find myself very conflicted about these attempts to protect the marine species.   I realise very much that fish stocks are under severe threat world wide and need to be protected.   As it is many youngsters in South Africa will never taste or even see an Abelone, Crayfish (Lobster) and many species of fish.   I will openly admit my contribution to this damage, we never understood or realised the damage we were doing by catching maximum numbers and killing them, there were no restrictions those days and plenty of fish.

It is easy for the authorities to close certain areas to fishing, usually aimed at recreational fishing.   This is on top of bag limits, size limits and too many rules to even remember.    We need an app for all those rules.   These closed areas (called MPA's Marine Protected Areas) keep growing in size and number.   It is easy for Marine scientist to make a case for more MPA's as it is the simplest to motivate & promulgate.   I think we as anglers know how little we in reality catch as compared to the commercial fishing industry.

My concern is with the policing of all the rules or then the lack of, or selective policing.
Only the ethical law abiding anglers respect al the rules, the crooks,  poachers and those who disregard the law, simply continue in their ways and export the illegally caught species to the East.   

I do not know how effective the enforcement of the rules are in the USA, but here it is near useless.   The result is that those who are proper enthusiastic honest recreational anglers and adhere to the law, are slowly but surely driven away from their sport while the poachers just carry on and all the restrictions ultimately have no effect in supporting the fish stocks.   Of course there is also a huge political motive, but lets not go there.

The recreational fishing industry is a big business, often consisting of many small manufacturers and retailers who are also under threat.

I don't have the answers to this problem of collapsing fish stocks, but making rules and laws without policing them is a waste of time.

[Crab Pot]

There was a huge take of near shore rockfish for the live fish market along the entire ca coast 20+ years ago. Anyone with a dingy, a trash can with water in it and a $50 license jumped in and it was on. Fish that brought in 80 a pound dead were now going for $6-$8 a pound live. It was unrestricted for quite a while and got pounded really hard. Later they put in monthly quotas but the damage had been done and some never really recovered, especially the slower growing fish. They should have stepped in sooner but here we are now. Hope it works and we see some of these species recover

Sawmi805, I hope the guys you mentioned had commercial licenses.

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When I was kid my Pop and I would go out of Half Moon Bay/Pillar Point with 5 hooks each and a goal to fill a burlap sack to the top.

I understand there is no need for 5 hooks and I don't mind limits.

I saw the logic of going to 2 hooks only, and protecting certain species, Canary's for example. But I can't understand closing the season.

We Nor. Cal guys can't chase Salmon and now Rock Cod. All that's left is Halibut, Surf Pearch, and Sand Dab's. If you have the skill set there are Long Fin, Albacore, and that's if they show up.

They made it so restrictive for Dungeness Crab that I can't use my $1000 worth of pots for the majority of the season. And for what, the imaginary Green Soft Back Sea Turtle and whales. Tell me how those same species don't get just as tangled in hoop nets as a traditional pot?

Who, who lives between Monterey and Fort Bragg, has EVER seen a Green Soft Back Sea Turtle??

I've seen more Sun Fish, Moola Moola's and Killer Whales. And I've been doing this a 48 years.

And what about the charter boats that have million dollar boat loans?

Sacramento can't but help making knee jerk reactions from DFG pimple popping ramp monitors who are probably vegan at the worst and vegetarian at the best.

Don't mean to paint with such a broad stroke on DFG ramp monitors. I'm sure 1 or 2 eat meat. 

Rant Over

Crab Pot

[Gfish]

Same 'ol, same 'ol. It's a rough way to earn a living by working in the natural resources fields. Boom and bust and bust by restrictions and moratoriums. "Tragedy of the Commons". A common property resource is owned by no single person/group but by everybody. More and more people exploit the resource until it starts to disappear. The Government  steps in, but usually too little, too late. In the end none of the involved groups likes each other, it's those other guy's fault!