Immediacy of fishing cuts a surprise
06/21/02
JONATHAN BRINCKMAN
Federal and state regulators Thursday imposed a surprise first wave of sharp cutbacks in ocean fishing off the West Coast next month -- six months earlier than predicted -- because of unexpectedly high harvests of depleted rockfish.
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The restrictions, approved at a heated meeting in San Francisco of the Pacific Fishery Management Council, include measures that ban California sport fisherman from water over 120 feet after July 1 and prohibit commercial trawling off Oregon and Washington after Sept. 1 from 600 feet out to 1,500 feet. That amounts to a closure of almost the entire contental shelf to California sport fishers, who use hook and line, and, after Sept. 1, the majority of the continental shelf to Oregon and Washington trawlers.
Cutbacks, widely feared by the West Coast fishing industry and the subject of the council's work this week, had not been expected to take effect this year.
"Given the stock assessments are so grim, I don't think we had any choice," said Bill Robinson, a member of the council and an assistant regional administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service. "And this is just a preview of what 2003 is going to look like."
But the council did not complete its work in setting the much-anticipated 2003 harvest limits and fishing closures. Deliberations continued late Thursday, with council members saying they would propose those limits today and make final decisions on them at the council's September meeting in Portland.
Thursday's unexpected action drew anger from sport and commercial fisherman, but praise from conservationists. At stake is an ocean fishery that council economists calculate generates $900 million a year of income on the West Coast. Commercial fisheries generate $77 million in Washington, $153 million in Oregon and $426 million in California. Sport fisheries for the three states add $246 million.
"This is bad for fisherman this year, but the council is finally doing the right thing," said Mark Powell, director of fish conservation for the Ocean Conservancy. "Until now, the steps the council have taken have been too little, too late. Now it looks like the council is finally taking the situation seriously."
Last month, regulators warned that fishing cutbacks in the ocean off Washington, Oregon and California likely will be ordered next year so as to protect four species of rockfish -- bocaccio, yelloweye rockfish, canary rockfish and darkblotched rockfish -- which federal scientists say are at critically low levels.
Scientists at Thursday's meeting, however, said the 2002 quota for two species, bocaccio, found off California, and darkblotched rockfish, found off Oregon and Washington, either already had been reached or were close to being reached. That triggered council proposals to propose fishing restrictions next month.
Rockfish are sold as Pacific red snapper in restaurants and stores. They are both specifically targeted by sport and commercial fisherman, and they are caught as "bycatch" when other fish, such as sole or halibut, are being sought.
Peter Huhtala of the Pacific Marine Conservation Council, an Astoria nonprofit organization working on sustainable fisheries, said fisherman and conservationists had expected sharp restrictions would be proposed for 2003.
"The dynamic changed dramatically when we came face to face with the figures coming out for the season," Huhtala said. "What happened today was not a softening of the blow. It's coming down faster and harder then we ever expected."
Oregon and Washington commercial trawlers were spared immediate economic harm when the council decided -- at the last minute -- to leave trawling quotas largely unchanged for July and August.
"We ended up with one of the more acceptable options," said Rod Moore, executive director of the West Coast Seafood Processors Association, based in Portland. "The alternative was to close down the trawl fishery in the north. The effect on the processing sector would have been devastating. Once you loose workers you don't get them back." You can reach Jonathan Brinckman at 503-221-8190 or by e-mail at
jbrinckman@news.oregonian.com.
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/orego...0562260290.xml
any comments ?? I seems to me there's a chance now for our children to have some fish left for future fishing off shore in Oregon..
craigc
link to article on cuts in offshore fishing..
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