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CLOUDY Temp: 45 °F Wind: CLM at 0 mph Wednesday, February 19, 2003 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend January 23, 2003 Trimming catches could help sustain bottomfish By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune Oregonians could see cuts in their ocean bottomfish limits, lost fishing months or a combination of both under a new review of all near-shore bottomfish meant to curb pressure on these old, slow-growing species. On request from the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission, state fish managers have devised strategies for exploring whether trimming catches of near-shore groundfish — primarily black and blue rockfish — can help sustain recreational and commercial fishing for these tasty, white-meated species. One possibility includes cutting the new 10 "marine-fish" limit (all ocean fish except salmon, tuna, surfperch, sanddab and bait-fish) to six a day while keeping the traditional year-round season. Others include the unprecedented move of shaving two to five months off the fishing year. One option would be to keep the limit at 10 fish a day, but allow recreational fishing only from May 1 through September. Another would set the season at April through September, but set a limit of eight fish a day. Yet another possibility would be keeping the current limit but banning jigging for rockfish in December and January — provided that Oregonians continue their growing obsession with salmon and catch the same numbers of rockfish they did in 2002. Each of these potential changes likely would meet the commission’s goal — to see what the seasons would look like if rockfish catches were limited to 20 percent of what they were in 2000, or, roughly, what they were in the mid-1990s. Similar cutbacks are being discussed for commercial fishermen, especially the growing fleet of boats catching and selling live fish to markets. But cuts to black and blue rockfish are lighter for the commercial fleet because recreational anglers catch about three times the amount of these fish than their commercial counter-parts. The fear is that some of these slow-growing species are getting over-fished to where their numbers have seriously declined. For others, information about them is so sketchy that their status is unknown. Commission members are so concerned that they want to consider possible changes now, even implementing them later this year under emergency changes. "We know so little about these fish and in the past, we’ve had (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists) assure us they weren’t a problem, only to find out they were a problem," says Don Denman, a Jacksonville attorney and commission member. "We’ve felt like we’ve been burned in the past," Denman says. "We don’t want that to happen again." ODFW is beginning its probe into the rockfish issue with two public meetings next week meant to tap the coast’s pulse on potential changes. Meetings are planned for 7 p.m. Monday in Garibaldi and 7 p.m. Thursday at Port Orford City Hall. Already, dissension is mounting among charterboat operators such as Bob and Marjorie Whitmer, who run the Betty Kay charter out of Charleston. Marjorie Whitmer says her business is trying to push salmon fishing more than bottomfish during these high-run salmon years, but she sees giving any ground to rockfish catches as a loss charterboat operators can’t sustain. "We’re very negative about the whole thing," she says. "It’s important that we fight for what we’re doing." Others, like charterboat captain Wayne Butler in Bandon, says the 50 to 60 regular charterboat operators along the coast may accept a shortened season but cannot survive a reduction in the 10-fish daily limit. "Nobody in the charter industry is going to go for the six-fish, year-round (season)," says Butler, who represents charterboat captains on the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s groundfish advisory panel. "Nobody’s going to pay $55 or more for six fish." The possible changes could create a clash between charterboats and private recreational boaters who typically are more interested in being allowed to fish whenever they want and less concerned about numbers of fish to justify their expenses. ODFW statistics show that rockfish anglers, for instance, typically catch six to eight fish a day, depending upon where along the coast they fish. Butler, however, believes private boaters won’t stand for a cut in the daily limits either. "When they go out for public comment, they’re not going to get any positive response to this," Butler says. Butler would prefer the commission wait until the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration completes its long-awaited black rockfish stock assessment later this year before any cutbacks are considered. "If the stock assessment says we’re in trouble, then I’ll be on board with cuts," Butler says. "But I’m not ready just to hand it all over now." Denman, who says he’s no groundfish expert, says he and his fellow commissioners are "a little gun-shy" when it comes to waiting for groundfish information to trickle in before making conservation-minded changes. The commission scaled back lingcod fishing in the late 1990s as information showed declines in those stocks, then increased the bag limit for 2003 when data showed the population declines slowed. Denman says he would prefer to see rockfish dealt with similarly. "I’d rather find out later and liberalize it than go the other way," Denman says. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search M Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright 1997-2002 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy web master feedback A D V E R T I S E R S