STATE REGULATIONS___________________________

The following information was taken from: The lingcod and rockfish allocation committee DRAET report to the Council, June 1998.

Washington

State regulations were adopted by NMPS and WDFW in 1991 which imposed catch restriction on black rockfish in specific areas along the Wahington coast (North of Cape Alava and south of Destruction Island to Leadbetter Point). At the same time, the bag limit for rockfish in Washington ws reducedreduced from 15 to 12 fish. Additionally, an informal agreement was established with the trawl industry to avoid targeting black rockfish.

Beginning in 1996, WDFW implemented regulations eliminating directed harvest of groundfish with hook-and-lineor pot gear in coastal state waters (a minimal bycatch is allowed in salmon trollfisheries). Trawling in state coastal waters is allowed only with nets having no roller gear and a foot rope diameter of less than five inches which allows for the harvest of flatfish species such as starry flounder and sand sole, but iirevents the net from being deployed in rocky areas. At the same time, the recreational bag limit for rockfish was reduced from 12 to 10 fish. This suite of
regulations is intended to eliminate the commercial harvest of black rockfish in state waters and complements the black rockfish bycatch only zones adopted in federal waters through the Council process in 1991. While these regulations are aimed primarily at black rockfish, other species (e.g., lingcod, greenling, cabezon, and other rockfish species) fall under the same de facto allocation to recreational fishers in state waters.

Changes in commercial trip limits and/or recreational bag limits within any given window considered for allocation periods obviously would affect the landings data.

Oregon
A stock assessment warning of stress in the black rockfish population prompted Oregon to change its approach to management of this species in 1994. This resulted in (1) reducing the sport bag, and (2) limiting commercial trip limits taken in four major areas where recreational fishing was conducted. The regulations follow:

• The trip limit is 200 pounds of black rockfish or 65 fish, whichever is greater;
• The new trip limit applies to all commercial;gear except trawl;
• The trip limit applies to only four areas of the coast: around the ports of Garibaldi, Depoe Bay/Newport, Charleston, and Brookings; and
• A vessel is allowed to catch and retain more than 200 pounds and land it into a restricted area as long as no fishing for any species occurred during that trip within a restricted area.

The objectives of this program are:

• Reduce mortality;
• Keep catch rates relatively high for the recreational fishery; and
• Not prohibit catch by a small commercial hook-and-line fishery developed following reduced commercial salmon
  opportunities.

California
Gear restrictions affecting the commercial fishing for rockfish

Gill and Trammel Nets
The use of gill nets in California waters was restricted greatly in recent years as a result of proposition 132, the Marine Resources Protection Act of 1990. Gill net gear restrictions are as follows:

• The take of rockfish within state waters (zero to three miles from shore) is prohibited (1990);
• Set nets are prohibited north of Point Reyes (longstanding regulation); and
• South of Point Sal (Santa Barbara Cow~ty), combined rockfish/lingcod bycatch is limited to 200 pounds or less, of which no more than 100 pounds may be rockfish (1988).

Trawl Nets
Trawl gear restrictions affecting rockfish fishing are as follows:

• Trawl nets are prohibited in state waters (zero to three miles), except midwater trawling is allowed within one mile of shore between Point Sur and Yankee Point. Trawling is allowed on specified southern California halibut fishing grounds (longstanding regulations); and
• Mesh size must be at least four and one-half inches, except as otherwise provided by federal groundfish regulations (adopted pursuant to the FCMA).

Set Fishing Lines and Vertical Fishing Lines
Fishing line restrictions affecting rockfish fishing are as follows:

• Prohibited on weekends and state holidays from Humboldt Bay to Half Moon Bay, within one mile of shore (1995); and
• A maximum of 150 hooks per vessel and 15 hooks per line may be used in waters within one mile of shore, excluding certain waters off Humboldt County and Marin County (1995).

The Recreational Fishery

The recreational take of rockfish represents a significant portion of the total fishery, with many different species of rockfish involved. See table 10 for a list of the top ten rockfish species taken in California, Oregon, and Washington in 1997. Recreational fishing not only provides fishing opportunity for many individual anglers, but also contributes significantly to local economies through the purchase of licenses, gear, bait, hoterrentals and fhrough participation in charter boat operations. As you can see from figure 44, California recreational rockfish landings have declined significantly since 1980. Love et al. (1998c) estimate that southern California recreational rockfish catches of chilipepper rockfish have declined to 0.5 percent, bocaccio to 1 percent and widow rockfish to 1.25 percent of 1980 levels. Identifying these trends of decline is often difficult, as reporting for the three states varies in its level of adequacy, due in part to the nature of the fishery. In contrast to the commercial fishery, the options of where to catch and land fish are far greater for the recreational fishery because of the relatively small boats and negligible amount of gear involved (Table 11). This makes tracking and reporting the catches much more difficult and results in numbers that are not as robust as they should be. This is illustrated in Figure 44 by the lack of data for 1990-1992.

Some of the problems that complicate management of rockfish in the recreational fishery are the difficulty in identifying individual species and the mortality associated with swim bladder expansion and stomach eversion that prevent the use of catch and release as a management tool for most species. Management recommendations in the past have included reduced bag limits, size limits, seasonal closures, and rotating area closures.

Increasing effort in the recreational fishery has paralleled that of the commercial fishery for rockfish. Surveys of recreational fishing effort and catch along the central and northern Calffornia coast were conducted by CDFG 1958-1961 and from 1981-1986. During this time period theaI;lual rec~eational fishing effort rose from 1.6 million fishing days to 2.7 million fishing days, with nearly all of the increase due to an increase in fishing from boats, commercial passenger fishing vessels and private/rental boats.

The catch in both surveys was dominated by rockfishes (Sebastes), and between the two surveys the catch rose from 1.3 million fish to 3.4 million fish. Declines in the recreational fishery in recent years (as evidenced by Love in earlier statements) have not only been limited to numbers of individual animals caught, the average weight also has dedined, from 0.82 kg down to 0.71 kg (see Figure 45) during the survey period (CDFG 1995).

Primarily as a result of the surveys conducted by CDFG, some general trends have been identified in the northern and central California lecreational rockfish fishery:

1. There has been a decrease in size among the shallow-water species with no consistent decline among the deepwater species.

2. There has been an increase in the proportion of deep-water species to shallow-water species in the PRB and CPFV catches.

3. The average weight of all five shallow-water rockfiskspebes declined from 0.70 kg/fish to 0.60 kg/fish.

4. The average weight of the all-depths group declined from 1.29 kg/fish to 1.01 kg/fish primarily due to decreases in size of bocaccio, canary, and vermilion rockfish. The decrease in bocaccio can be attributed to recruitment of young fish, probably a strong 1984 year-class and overharvest of larger individuals.

Future research

Increased monitoring and data collection for the recreational fishery must occur. This effort needs to be given equal priority with commercial data collection, because in some areas the recreational catch has exceeded the commercial catch for certain species. The sport catch of canary, greenspotted, and yellowtail rockfish exceeded the trawl landings in central California from San Francisco to San Luis Obispo in the 1980-1986 CDFG survey.

The findings in CDFG Bulletin number 176, which were based directly on species composition, were that CPFVs and PRBs have increased utilization of deep-water rockfish stocks between 1958 and 1986. This trend could reflect declining stocks in shallower waters, an increased interest in the deep-water rockfish, or a change in gear and vessel technology. Data are needed on location and depth at capture to allow for evaluation of changes in fishing power and the effects of competing fisheries. The authors contend that "of most immediate management importance is an assessment of the impacts on nearshore (within three miles) stocks of the commercial long-line and other 'alternate gear' fisheries that in recent years have replaced set-net fisheries and have expanded greatly into nearshore areas formerly subject mainly to sportfishing."

Nearshore rockfish have been put on a Priority list by the PFMC to investigate the feasibility of an assessment. The vast majority of rockfish species found in the nearshore area never have been assessed.

There are currently research efforts taking place on various aspects of the recreational fishery for rockfish on the West Coast. These include, but are not limited to, an economic survey of marine anglers on the West Coast, an analysis of the recruitment variability of black rockfish utilizing charter fishing boats from Newport and Depoe Bay OR, as well as a black rockfish tagging program utilizing charter vessels from Washington areas. Additional effortneeds to be focused on gathering more accurate data to estimate the actual total number of removals of rockfish by this portion of the fishery.