Warm weather leading to hot fishing
By Ed ZieralskiThursday, January 20, 2011It’s still early, but the arrival of schools of mackerel off northern Baja has fishermen wondering if an early spring bite on yellowtail is in the works.Fishing for rockfish, lingcod and even an occasional cowcod has been very good in Mexican waters, where the fish are legally caught right now. The rockfish closure in Southern California stretches to the end of February.Meantime, fishing remains good for long-range boats out of San Diego, and another 300-pound tuna hit the Point Loma waterfront dock on Thursday.Read the rest of the story from the San Diego Union-Tribune here.
Concept of ‘fishing down food webs’ shown to be a myth
By Ray Hilborn (originally published in Pacific Fishing magazine, Jan. 2011)
Perhaps no image of the impact of fish has captured the public as much as “fishing down food webs.”The idea is very simple: Fishing begins, quite naturally, on the largest, most valuable fish. Once those are gone, fishermen move down the food webs to smaller, less valuable fish, and so on until the oceans are empty.As Daniel Pauly, the prime apostle of the concept, has often said, we will soon have nothing to eat but jellyfish and zooplankton soup. This neatly fits the “apocalyptic” narrative that is so beloved by some environmental activists, but like many of these narratives, it is wishful thinking.Pauly’s original paper, published in 1998, showed that the average fish caught in the world was becoming smaller and ever lower on the food web. This has been one of the most influential papers in the history of fisheries science. The “food web index” has been adopted by the Convention on Biodiversity and other groups as the best indicator of the health of marine ecosystems.Read the rest here.
Has Overfishing Ended? Top US Scientist Says Yes
Has overfishing ended? Top US scientist says yes, but fishermen say cost was too high
For the first time in at least a century, U.S. fishermen won't take too much of any species from the sea, one of the nation's top fishery scientists says.The projected end of overfishing comes during a turbulent fishing year that's seen New England fishermen switch to a radically new management system. But scientist Steve Murawski said that for the first time in written fishing history, which goes back to 1900, "As far as we know, we've hit the right levels, which is a milestone."Read the rest of the story here.
Biologically inexplicable boom highlights uncertainty about management
By Danna StaafOn Dec. 17, 2010, the California market squid-fishing season was closed for the first time in history. The statewide catch hit the harvest limit of 118,000 tons, with 20,000 tons caught in Monterey Bay and 98,000 tons in Southern California, bringing in a total of $59 million.Read the rest of the story here.
Commercial Market Squid Fishery Closes December 17
Contact: : DFG Marine Region, Dale Sweetnam, (858) 546-7170CWPA Market Squid Research Program, Dr. Doyle Hanan (858) 832-1159
Based on landings information and projections, Department of Fish and Game (DFG) biologists expected that the season’s harvest limit of 118,000 short tons of market squid would be reached by Friday, December 17. The squid fishing season runs from April through the following March of each year, and the fishery closure will remain in effect through March 31, 2011. This is the first season the harvest limit has been attained since it was implemented by the Fish and Game Commission in 2004 as part of the California Market Squid Fishery Management Plan.Squid fishermen and processors have assisted DFG in tracking daily catches this fall, as record squid abundance signaled the likelihood of reaching the harvest limit, established to ensure the squid fishery does not expand beyond levels experienced in the 1990s. “The wetfish industry and California Wetfish Producers Association (CWPA) are very pleased to partner with DFG to ensure a sustainable market squid resource and fishery,” says California Wetfish Producers Association Executive Director Diane Pleschner-Steele.
”The mission of the nonprofit CWPA is to facilitate collaborative research and management of our marine resources,” Pleschner-Steele explains. “Our market squid research program predicted a good season this fall, but this has been truly amazing.”Under the supervision of Dr. Doyle Hanan, retired DFG senior marine biologist supervisor formerly responsible for market squid and coastal pelagic fisheries, squid fishermen have learned how to tow scientific bongo nets to collect squid hatchlings, called paralarvae. They time these field surveys to coincide with quarterly California Cooperative Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) oceanic research cruises. Dr. Hanan has observed a correlation between increased paralarvae abundance and a productive fishery six- to nine months later.
(Learn more about CWPA’s market squid research program here.)The presence of market squid is strongly correlated with environmental factors, such as water temperature and nutrient availability. In warm water years, such as during El Niño events, squid abundance drops sharply and landings decline. However, when water temperatures cool, even after severe warm water events, market squid numbers can rebound dramatically.“Recent favorable environmental conditions generated the current surge in market squid abundance, says Dr. Hanan. “The fact is there were plenty of adult squid and eggs produced to take advantage of these environmental conditions. This huge biomass has occurred while a squid fishery continued and a fishery management plan controlled fishing activities. From a fishery science and biological standpoint, this indicates that the management plan is indeed working.”“We have had a banner year for market squid this year," says Dale Sweetnam, DFG senior marine biologist who now oversees the commercial market squid fishery. “In California, we have had squid landings from La Jolla to Half Moon Bay and reports that market squid are abundant off many of the offshore banks, the Channel Islands, as well as off Baja California. The colder than normal water conditions we have observed since February have provided optimal conditions for squid spawning.”
According to the DFG News Release, market squid is by far California’s largest and most valuable commercial fishery. In 2009, just over 100,000 tons were landed with an ex-vessel value of $56.5 million. California market squid is used domestically for food - often identified as “calamari” in restaurants - and is an important international commodity. Last year, California fish businesses exported market squid to 36 countries with China the leading importer of California market squid.The harvest limit is one of many provisions governing the squid fishery, which has been managed under the state’s Market Squid Fishery Management Plan (MSFMP) since 2005. The goals of the MSFMP are to ensure long-term conservation and sustainability of the market squid resource, reduce the potential for overfishing and provide a framework for management. In addition to the harvest limit, weekend closures were implemented to allow for periods of uninterrupted spawning each week.The MSFMP was developed under the provisions set forth by California’s Marine Life Management Act (MLMA), which became law in 1999. The MLMA created state policies, goals and objectives to govern the conservation, sustainable use and restoration of California’s living marine resources.(Read the entire DFG news release announcing the fishery closure here.)
Squid fishery has banner year; season closes early
By Zeke BarlowDecember 15, 2010The hard part for the Ventura County squid fishery this year wasn’t catching the squid – it was catching too many.“The biggest challenge is not catching too much at once,” said Joe Cappuccio, president of Del Mar Seafoods. There were so many squid swimming off Ventura County’s coast this year that when his boats would set their nets around a school, they had to make sure they didn’t get too many and risk overloading the boats.This was the best year for squid fishermen in more than a decade, but it also marks the first time the state’s squid fleet met the cap that California Department of Fish and Game imposed in 2004. On Friday, the fishery will meet the limit of 118,000 tons of squid caught in the state. The squid fishing season will close, reopening in April.“This has been an amazing year,” said Diane Pleschner-Steele, with the industry group California Wetfish Producers Association.Read more.
California Fish and Game Commission Gives Final Approval for South Coast Marine Protected Areas
The California Fish and Game Commission (Commission) adopted regulations to create a new suite of marine protected areas (MPAs) in Southern California. At a Commission meeting in Santa Barbara today, the regulations were adopted as part of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA), which requires California to reexamine and redesign its system of MPAs with the goals to, among other things, increase the effectiveness of MPAs in protecting the state’s marine life and habitats, marine ecosystems and marine natural heritage.Informed by recommendations generated through a two-year public planning process, the regulations will create 36 new MPAs encompassing approximately 187 square miles (8 percent) of state waters in the study region. Approximately 116 square miles (4.9 percent) have been designated as no-take state marine reserves (82.5 square miles/3.5 percent) and no-take state marine conservation areas (33.5 square miles/1.4 percent), with the remainder designated as state marine conservation areas with different take allowances and varying levels of protection. In addition to approving the MPA regulations, the Commission also certified the environmental impact report prepared pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act.Read the rest of the news release here.
State panel approves creation of protected marine area off Southern California coast
December 15, 2010SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — State wildlife regulators voted Wednesday to create a zone of protected areas off the Southern California coast where fishing and other activities will be restricted or banned.The Fish and Game Commission listened to hours of public comment before approving the marine protected area along a 250-mile arc of coastline from the Mexican border to Santa Barbara County.To comply with the state's Marine Life Protection Act of 1999, California's 1,100-mile coast was divided into five sections. Two protected areas were previously created in Northern and Central California. Southern California is the third area to undergo the process.The establishment of such areas has been a particularly thorny issue in Southern California, where conservationists, fishermen and seaside business interests have collided.The commission voted 3-2 in favor of the protected area. Supporters clapped when the vote was cast. Many had urged the panel to increase the size of the protected locations within the reserve.The process appeared to have done little to quell opposition, even though the proposal has been in the works for two years and was aired at dozens of public hearings.Fishing industry experts expressed concern about the survival of their industry. California Fisheries Coalition manager Vern Goehring and others predicted lawsuits."The public image or message that proponents are giving is this is a great thing protecting the ocean," Goehring said. "But in reality, most people know if you regulate fishing — which is already regulated — it doesn't do anything new about water quality, coastal development and other threats."Read the rest of the story here.