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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend October 20, 2005 Closure begs for change in quotas By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune Oregon’s charterboat operators and recreational bottomfishers are bracing for changes to the 2006 season after two straight years of closures to curb over-fishing of black rockfish. After creel estimates showed ocean sport anglers were close to eclipsing the 2005 black rockfish quota, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Tuesday closed all bottomfishing from boats inside 40 fathoms, including bays and estuaries. The closure is in near-shore waters because black rockfish are rarely found in deeper water, where anglers target yelloweye rockfish and lingcod. Shore-based divers and anglers fishing from beaches, piers, rocks and jetties have a separate year-round season on black rockfish that is not affected by the closure. "The good news is there’s still some fishing opportunities that weren’t available when we had the closure last year," says Brandon Ford, spokesman for the ODFW’s Marine Program in Newport. Advertisement The closure comes as ODFW marine biologists are taking the public pulse on how to craft next year’s recreational rockfish season with a quota already set at 324 metric tons, which is a 13 percent drop from this year. In this year’s season, anglers opened with an eight-fish aggregate limit, but it was dropped to five fish in July after catch estimates showed the 332-metric ton limit was close to filling. Bandon charterboat operator Wayne Butler says he expects the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission to play it close to the vest next year in hopes of recreating Oregon’s historic year-round rockfish season. "I’d be surprised to see an eight-fish (limit) to start with again," Butler says. The ODFW held three public meetings along the coast, including a Wednesday-night meeting in Brookings, to hear what the public thinks about next year’s season. One possibility floated among the public is to take a page from the Klamath Management Zone’s chinook-salmon management by steering away from the quota-driven system and setting specific season openers and shifts in bag limits. Computer models could take the quota and estimate what day a certain percentage would be met, thereby determining a date to change catch limits. Ford says that option could be one of many discussed today when the ODFW’s sportsmen’s groundfish advisory committee meets in Newport. Recommendations from the public meetings and the advisory committee will be used to craft an ODFW recommendation to the commission later this year. Butler, who serves on that advisory committee, says he likes the set dates for shifting limits from eight fish to five because of the predictability. "I’ve got no opposition to that whatsoever," Butler says. "But I’d be amazed if the commission let that fly." Last year marked the first time the year-round bottomfishing season was closed in Oregon for sport anglers. This year, agency biologists and recreational anglers hoped to limp through the entire season with the eight-fish limit, and then hoped the cutback to five in July would get anglers through the year. But a combination of high catch rates and poor salmon fishing gobbled up the quota. "It was pretty clear by last month that we weren’t going to make it the whole year," Ford says. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail Closure begs for change in quotas ">[email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker dvd-r Distance Education Computer Security Ztech Media Hosting Sports Equipment Student Loans tcg student loan consolidation Online Pharmacy online casino Myspace Home Equity Loans Windermere Van Vleet Rogue Valley Travel Reservationstogo Hotel Reservations Southern Oregon Loans Online Casino News Natto Kinase Nattokinase Casino Gambling Sites Budget Website Templates Investments & Loans Advertisement s