Have you ever lain awake in bed at night wondering about the quantity of marine fish taken by recreational fisheries compared to commercial fisheries? Read on and sleep soundly tonight.
As one might guess, commercial harvest greatly outweighs sport harvest, but the picture is not the same for all species. In northern and central California (Oregon border to Point Conception), commercial harvests of rockfish, salmon, and flatfish far exceed sport harvests (see table). However sport harvest of lingcod is about half the commercial harvest. Sport harvests of surfperches and cabezon, which are nearshore species unavailable to most commercial fisheries, exceed commercial harvests. Some species within the rockfish group (e.g., blue rockfish) have significant portions of harvest by sport fisheries.
Average annual marine harvest (metric tons) of finfish in northern and central California, 1981-86.
Sport* Commercial
Rockfish 2448 16151
Salmon 416 2735
Lingcod 403 942
Surfperch 193 54
Flatfish 102 12981
White croaker 63 331
Cabezon 57 4
Other finfish 837 29071
Total finfish 4519 61922
*excludes fishing from skiffs in San Francisco Bay
In 1958-61 the sport catches of all finfish in northern and central California was 6.6% of the total sport and commercial catch of 41,000 metric tons (mt)(see figure).
By 1981-86 the sport catch had risen to 8.0% of the total sport and commercial catch of 67,000 metric tons. Thus the portion of sport catch appears to have risen somewhat over the past 30 years. However, if a trend towards higher percentage of sport catch exists, it may not continue, because...
The Times They Are A-Changin'
Sport fishing is not as big a part of our culture as it used to be. Sales of full-year resident California sport fishing licenses dropped from about 2.3 million in 1981 to about 1.6 million in 1992.
Sales of less expensive licenses (e.g., Pacific Ocean only licenses) have been maintained or risen slightly. However total license sales have declined, despite a major increase in California's population. In the early 1980's full-year licenses were purchased by about 1 in 10 people in the state; now the ratio is about 1 in 20. In 1989 a random telephone survey was conducted of the attitudes and preferences of southern California saltwater anglers. The main reasons given by people who had quit fishing were loss of interest, not having enough time, pollution of oceans, bays and estuaries, and high costs. Other possible causes for declining license sales include an increasingly urban population, economic recession, and the drought -DA
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