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Anglers get reprieve on limits By Mark Freeman Sport-anglers heading off Oregon�s coast will have to change where they fish, but they can still keep the same total number of prized bottomfish under new fishing cutbacks meant to help one small, slow-growing rockfish repopulate deep-water reefs. The changes in the 2001 ocean sport-fishing season recommended last week by the Pacific Fishery Management Council are designed to help jump-start a rebound in the population of canary rockfish, an orange fish that lives primarily along offshore reefs 300 to 1,000 feet deep. Beginning in January, sport-anglers will be allowed to keep just one canary rockfish as part of their 10-fish daily bottomfish limit. The new limit is below the current limit of three on "canaries," as they are commonly called. However, it represents the only bottomfish change for sport-anglers who were facing possible cutbacks in the overall 10-bottomfish daily limit as well as the potential for trimming two months or more off the year-round bottomfishing season. The new canary rockfish limit, however, will ripple through Oregon�s fleet of charter and pleasureboat anglers who will have to adjust their fishing locations and avoid canary rockfish schools as much as possible to make the new rules work. "They�ll have to work hard to stay off canary rockfish," says Don Bodenmiller of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife�s marine program in Newport. "When they put their lines down and get canary rockfish, they�ll have to pick up their lines and move." Not avoiding canaries could lead to their over-harvest � even with the reduced bag limit. Sport and commercial fishermen are splitting a canary rockfish quota for 2001 of 93 metric tons, and any over-harvest by either faction could lead to even further restrictions to fishing in 2002. Anglers, therefore, will be encouraged to stay closer to shore where the bottomfish populations are dominated by black and blue rockfish, two of the canary�s most populous cousins. The best way to avoid catching canary rockfish is fishing in waters of 180 feet deep or less � waters not normally inhabited by the canaries. "Now, with the one-canary limit, it�s basically the opposite message we�ve been telling anglers in the past," Bodenmiller says. "Now, it�s stay near shore, and don�t go offshore." The new rules should have their least impact in Southern Oregon, where anglers who flock to Brookings for great bottomfishing rarely venture more than 3 miles offshore � the arbitrary border between near-shore and offshore reefs. "People who we are taking fishing don�t want to go in the rough water," says Jan Pearce of Tidewinds Charters in Brookings. "They�re out there just for the fun of it." And fun translates into staying close to home and jigging for black rockfish schools that love the rocky bottom of the near-shore waters, Pearce says. Few canary rockfish are caught by sport-anglers venturing out of Brookings, chiefly because the deep waters off Southern Oregon are not as rockfish-rich as the depths off the central and northern coasts. But pushing anglers closer to shore could add more pressure to the black rockfish population, which federal biologists are set to sample coastwide in 2001. If this shift of bottomfishing starts to cut into the black rockfish population, then future cutbacks in black rockfish could occur, Bodenmiller says. "For 2001, it looks OK," Bodenmiller says, "But, if the stock assessment shows some concerns, you could see changes in the black rockfish fishery as early as 2002. "I�m not crying wolf," Bodenmiller says, "but it�s reason for concern." Pearce says the rough nature of south coast waters helps allay those concerns. With rough seas usually limiting anglers to no more than five months of predictable spring and summer fishing weeks, the local black rockfish have a built-in buffer against over-fishing. "When we go fishing, it just seems to be that they�re always there," Pearce says. "The pressure, I think, is really balanced by the weather and the numbers of people fishing." Staff writer Mark Freeman covers the outdoors for the Mail Tribune. Call him at 776-4470, or e-mail him at [email protected] ) Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.