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Mark Freeman Commentary Rule changes make rockfish No. 1 priority By MARK FREEMAN O regon will sport the West Coast's only year-round recreational lingcod fishing seasons next year under sweeping new changes to ocean-angling rules meant to help rebuild depressed stocks of bottom-dwelling fish. As part of changes set Friday by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) to ease fishing pressure on lingcod and canary rockfish, the states of California and Washington enacted winter sport-fishing closures of lingcod. California will also enact a two-month winter closure on sport-fishing for other rockfish species. But Oregon has opted for keeping its year-round rockfish season, relying instead on more restrictive daily limits on the different species and new size restrictions on lingcod, one of sport anglers' most sought-after rockfish because of its size, fight and the taste of its flesh. Beginning Jan. 1, the bottomfish limits will be cut from 15 to 10 fish a day, and no more than two of those 10 fish can be canary rockfish. The canaries are white-fleshed fish caught in very deep waters off the Oregon coast, predominantly by sport-anglers jigging off Central and Northern Oregon ports. Also, the lingcod daily limit will drop from two fish to one. The current 24-inch minimum size will remain, but anglers next year will be required to release all lingcod over 34 inches long. The changes likely will trim lingcod and canary rockfish harvests by 20 percent each, but will help a coastwide plan that experts say has a 50-50 chance of rebuilding the depressed stocks by the end of the next decade. The changes enacted by the PFMC must be also be signed off by the secretary of commerce and the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission before they become law. The changes are not expected to be altered. The new rules may curb the numbers and types of tasty bottomfish that sport-anglers can drop in their coolers, but keeping the option of fishing any day the weather cooperates makes recovery efforts a less-bitter pill here. "This still gives us the year-round fishery, and that's important," says Don Bodenmiller, of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. While Don "Critter" Crisp, who owns Critter's Charters in Brookings, believes the reductions will cut 15-25 percent into the charter business, he sees the changes as the best of a bad situation. "I think it's very fortunate to have what we got," says Crisp, who lobbied the PFMC on behalf of sport-anglers and charterboat operators. "But this puts (his business) on the edge." The PFMC, which advises the secretary of commerce on marine fishing rules, enacted the new season changes in Sacramento, culminating more than a year of study and deliberating on how to rebuild once-vibrant rockfish stocks. Lingcod are long and spiny fish, with big heads, canine-like teeth and oversized mouths. Their white flesh is considered a delicacy, and they are prize catches for sport fishermen who revere them as much for their tough fighting as their smooth eating. They range from Mexico to Alaska. Exceptionally large fish measure 4 feet long and weigh about 40 pounds, with females the largest. With 4,300 fish landed last year, Brookings is the sportsmen's lingcod capital of Oregon. A 1997 marine survey concluded that lingcod have been fished down by 91 percent from levels before lingcod fishing began. That's low enough to trigger a shutdown on sport and commercial lingcod fishing under the new Magnuson Act. When a fish species population estimates at less than 10 percent of pre-fishing levels, the new provisions of the act say fish managers must rebuild the lingcod population in the next 10 years, and ban fishing if need be. Research in Washington shows that lingcod fishing can continue in reduced levels while still giving the fish a very good chance of recovery. The canary rockfish protections come after similar conclusions about these smaller rockfish that live in deep ocean reefs. Since sports-anglers catch canary rockfish while jigging for more common species like black and blue rockfish, protection measures focused on blanket rockfish rules that take into account several species. Washington's rockfish season will be as follows: For lingcod, fishing allowed April 1 through Oct. 31, with a one-lingcod limit and a 24-inch minimum size. For rockfish, the season will remain year-round and the current 10-fish limit will remain. But no more than two of the 10 rockfish can be canary rockfish, and no more than two can be yellow-eyed rockfish. Northern California's rockfish seasons will be as follows: For lingcod, fishing allowed May 1 through February, with a two-fish limit and a minimum size of 24 inches. There is no maximum size. For rockfish, the season will also run May 1 through February, with the daily limit trimmed from 15 rockfish to 10. And no more than three of those 10 can be canary rockfish. For the rest of California south of the San Luis Obispo area, lingcod and rockfish fishing will be allowed from March 1 through Dec. 31, with daily limits of three lingcod and 10 rockfish. Oregon could have opted for winter closures on lingcod, but doing so would not count as strongly toward recovery as the trimmed limits, Bodenmiller says. Marine fishing managers measure rockfish by total weight, not in numbers of fish like Pacific salmon are measured. But cutting the bag limit and banning harvest on the bigger -- and heavier -- older lingcod, Oregonians get more fishing out of a smaller slice of the pie by keeping the year-round season, Bodenmiller says. Since Oregonians typically catch few lingcod in winter, enacting a five-month winter fishing closure would have only trimmed 4-5 percent of the overall harvest, Bodenmiller says. But cutting the lingcod bag limit from two fish to one gets a net savings of 14 percent, and setting the 34-inch maximum size accounts for 17 percent of tonnage savings while reducing only 7 percent of the catch, Bodenmiller says. Together, the two new lingcod rules cut sport-fishing's harvest tonnage by 30 percent, but only results in a 20-percent reduction in the numbers of fish caught. "We're trying to take advantage of the life history of these fish," Bodenmiller says. (Staff writer Mark Freeman covers the outdoors for the Mail Tribune. Call him at 776-4470, or e-mail him at: [email protected] ) Outdoor Journal main page Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA