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Look for more strict limits on fading Lingcod By MARK FREEMAN With its oversized head, bulging eyes and Mick Jagger mouth, lingcod are ugly critters even among bottomfish. They are mean and cannibalistic, usually laying in ambush among coastal rocks like a broke crack-head hiding behind a dumpster for his next victim. Yet Washington research scientist Tom Jagielo finds incredible beauty in this beastly bottomfish of the Pacific. "How could you look at a lingcod," Jagielo says, "and not love that fish?" Personal taste aside, the issue here is love -- namely, how much can one ugly fish stand. It is now time for fishermen to love the lingcod a little less. It's time to begin admiring these fish more from afar instead of close-up on the end of a gaff. Whether sport-anglers can continue hauling in an occasional lingcod for keeps next year will be played out over the next six months in a debate that is likely to be as rough and tumble as the lingcod itself. Federal fish managers are ready to embark on a plan to rebuild the depleted lingcod population over the next decade, dragging it from record lows to a population large and stable enough to ensure they are around through the 21st Century. One key to the plan is whether a limited harvest of lingcod can occur while the fish repopulates itself. And if they can, how will sport and commercial interests divide this smaller piece of the lingcod pie? This debate likely will hinge upon how federal fish managers look at Jagielo's lingcod research for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. federal fish managers look at Jagielo's lingcod research for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Jagielo's computer modeling predicts that lingcod have a good to excellent chance of rebuilding their populations while still allowing some harvest of the rough-fighting, fine-tasting fish. "At some level, fishing looks like it can be accommodated here," Jagielo says. But it's up to the fish-policy wonks to determine how to spread out any future lingcod catch among sportsmen and commercial interests. In the past, the commercial fishermen have taken the lion's share of the lingcod, but the take has been more even of late. Topping it off, Jagielo's estimates might turn out to be wrong. Even he admits he has no crystal ball, and that the wacky world of the Pacific ocean can prove an educated guess wrong. "Anybody trying to guess what's going to go on in the next few years is going out on a limb, anyway," Jagielo says. The inexact world of fisheries management demands some guessing and limb-walking now that lingcod have fallen somewhere between L.A. River salmon and mermaids on the aquatic population scales. 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 Baja California north to Kodiak, Alaska. Exceptionally large fish measure 4 feet long and weigh about 40 pounds, with females the largest. Coastal reefs of Oregon, particularly off Coos Bay and Newport, are home to many lingcod -- although far fewer now. 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. With population estimates at less than 10 percent of pre-fishing levels, the act says fish managers must rebuild the lingcod population in the next 10 years, and ban fishing if need be. The Pacific Fishery Management Council soon will be discussing how to bring the fish back, and whether some harvest can continue during the 10-year recovery program that begins early next year. That effort makes Jagielo important. Jagielo, a self-professed fishery-science "nerd," has run computer modeling programs that estimate lingcod recovery with and without certain levels of fishing. One potential PFMC goal is to increase overall lingcod numbers to 35 percent of historic levels. Under that goal, Jagielo's research predicts that sport and commercial interests could catch as much as 734 metric tons of lingcod a year and still have a 97 percent chance of rebuilding the stock within 10 years. That level would mean an overall harvest drop of about 30 percent. However, if the PFMC sets the goal at 40 percent, estimated harvest levels would drop accordingly. Under that target, sport and commercial interests could share 395 metric tons of lingcod a year, with a 99 percent chance of reaching the 40 percent rebuilding goal. Bump that harvest up to 782 metric tons, and the odds drop to 74 percent that the stock will rebound by 2010. Presuming the PFMC decides to take some risk in the rebuilding effort, a drop in harvest will likely result in tighter sport-fishing restrictions. Catch rules have steadily tightened for sportsmen in recent years, and they now limit harvest to two fish a day, with a 24-inch minimum. Previously, options not enacted have included shortening the lingcod season, setting a one-fish daily limit and even setting a maximum size like the one for sturgeon. Jagielo says none of that is for him to decide, but recent cuts in harvest can only help the lingcod in the long run. The PFMC will debate the targets and set season options June 22-25 in Portland. After public comment and some alterations, the final decision is expected by the PFMC in November. (Staff writer Mark Freeman covers the outdoors for the Mail Tribune. He can be reached at 776-4470.) Outdoor Journal main page Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA