No fishing allowed

A statewide ban is driving the number of fish up while dragging the fishing industry down

BY MATT MCBRIDE

For local fishermen, July 1 may be remembered as the day that finally sank the industry.

The economies of coastal fishing communities and businesses throughout California–from bait shops in Guadalupe to restaurants in Morro Bay–have been steadily weakened by bans and restrictions placed on fishermen in order to protect fish that live off the coast.

Though past restrictions have made it difficult for fishermen to make a living, a new ban, which protects various types of rockfish, could put many out of business and make it impossible for them to find their sea legs again. Depending on how quickly these fish can breed, the ban could potentially lockup the coast for almost a century.

The ban was adopted mid-season because of the apparent overfishing of bocaccio, a continental shelf-area fish.

And the bocaccio isn’t swimming alone. Eight other species of continental shelf-area fish have been declared overfished as well, including ling cod, cow cod, and the pacific whiting. The stock assessment was done by scientists associated with the Pacific Fisheries Management Council in 2002.

To protect the bocaccio from being placed on the endangered species list, the council banned fishing of any rockfish between the depths of 20 fathoms and 150 fathoms–120 to 900 feet. Inside 120 feet there is a 10-fish bag limit.

Technically, what the council has done is close the entire continental shelf, a huge swath of ocean that is home to countless species of fish. Salmon and other fish can still be caught in this area, but fishermen will need different rigs because they’ll be in violation if they catch a rockfish, even accidentally. Although they can still catch the nearshore rockfish, they cannot be in possession of them within the designated area.

Many of these rockfish are the marine bread-and-butter of a number of businesses here on the Central Coast.

Commercial fishermen need these fish to supplement their incomes. Recreational sport fishing companies make most of their money from inland tourists coming to the area in order to catch these particular fish. Bait and tackle shops make a large portion of their money selling equipment to these tourists. Restaurant owners serve these fish as either fish and chips or fresh local red snapper.

This story is an old one, as predictable as supply and demand or the rise and fall of each wave on the shore: No fish, no tourists. No tourists, no money.

Something’s fishy

The main problem fishermen say they have with the ban is simple: There seems to be plenty of bocaccio in local waters.

"I know that, across the board, every fisherman around here will tell you there is more bocaccio now than there was in the ’70s," said Darby Neil, vice president of Virg’s Sport Fishing in Morro Bay. "They did their studies with open-water trawls and did not find any. We can find many of them around the rocks."

In Avila Beach, fisherman Tom St. John says you don’t need to conduct any surveys to see how many bocaccio there are.

"It’s completely bogus. All you have to do is go to the pier and see everyone catching bocaccio," St. John said.

Charles Hittle, a captain with Virg’s Sport Fishing in Morro Bay, agrees.

"They’re taking their samples from the most heavily fished areas in southern California. We have good numbers of those fish here on the Central Coast," Hittle said.

John Devore, a groundfish expert with the fisheries council, concedes that the assessment process is far from perfect, but it’s also all there is. The council is required to manage under the best available science.

The current bocaccio stock assessment suggests that it could take as long as 90 years to rebuild the stock back to the level mandated by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, a piece of legislation that was reauthorized into the Sustainable Fisheries Act in 1996.

Devore said the act mandates certain actions in order to rebuild overfished stock. The standard is an estimated "virgin biomass," a theoretical fish count of how plentiful the spawning stock would be if there was no long-term effective fishing. The target is 40 percent of that estimated biomass, calculated in terms of past stock productivity. A species must be declared overfished if it dips below 25 percent of the estimate.

Devore said that the bocaccio is currently at 4.8 percent.

Scientists use a formula that combines numbers from numerous sources to come to their decisions. Measurements are taken from trawl nets that sweep a certain area of ocean in the same place year after year. Submarines are used to manually count the fish in the ocean.

Fishermen are expected to keep a log of all the fish they catch. Both the fish they keep and the by-catch that they throw back are included in these logs. The records are then studied by the Department of Fish and Game and the PFMC to account for how many of each species of fish are caught.

Guy Grundmeier, a halibut trawler based in Port San Luis, sees a problem with relying too heavily on a fisherman’s logs.

"The reason there are no landings of bocaccio [recorded in the books], is because they are so full of worms the fishermen don’t try to catch them because nobody will buy them," Grundmeier said.

Devore said that the scientists go to great lengths to quantify their data. He added that this summer there are three fishermen contracted to take the scientists out to where the fish are.

"The outcry was not lost on the council. They know we need a new assessment," Devore said.

However, even if the new assessments show that there is more bocaccio than previously thought, the ban would still stand.

"It’s not likely that we’ll be making any dramatic changes in the fishery within the next few years, even with a positive assessment," Devore said.

He added that fishermen are seeing juvenile bocaccio that, thanks to the slow maturation process, will take their time growing into the spawning stock. It’s also still going to take a while for that spawning stock to grow to the desired goal. Though it might not take 90 years, it may still impact the industry for generations.

"I certainly don’t see any changes in this ban in my lifetime–probably not in my children’s lifetime, either," said Barry Cohen, owner of Olde Port Fisheries in Avila Beach.

Here’s the catch

The extent to which the Central Coast economy could be affected by the ban is unclear at this point. Tourists come to the coast to fish these fish. They pay to get on the recreational sport fishing boats; they buy their equipment at tackle shops; they stay in area hotels, eat in area restaurants, and buy gas in order to get home.

One business that will be forced to change will be that of recreational sport fishing boats. The most popular trips cost $40 a head to take people to deep-water areas in order to catch rockfish. Without deep-water access, that money could go out like the tide.

Previous bans have dropped the limit of allowable catches from unlimited tonnage to 2,000 pounds to 500 pounds to the now complete eradication of any rockfish. Details of previous bans can be found on the PFMC’s Web site at pcouncil.org.

"The new ban will definitely affect our business, but we already have half the employees now that we had a few years ago. What we’ll now focus on is the near-shore fishing that is still allowed. It’s lighter tackle, a shorter trip, and the kids have more fun in the shallow water," Virg’s Sport Fishing’s Neil said.

Dan Dunlap, owner of Jax Jigs, a tackle shop in Santa Maria, won’t just turn his focus to shallow water. He’s looking all the way out of state.

"[These bans] have turned my business from a lucrative full-time operation to a barely surviving part-time business. I’m moving to Arizona," he said.

John Kelley of Best Baits in Guadalupe said that he used to be the largest distributor of fish bait in the area, providing bait for both Virg’s and Patriot sport fishing. Now, business is sluggish.

"I’m already winding down," he said. "I’ll be done in the next year."

Although he cites numerous reasons for the decline in business, the fishing bans are responsible for a good deal of the drop. The most recent ban is no exception.

"This is the last nail on the coffin," Kelley said.

While recreational fishing hauls in a great deal of money, commercial fishermen also need these rockfish in order to supplement their overall income. Skippers don’t often center their efforts on one type of fish on a trip. Instead, they catch the nearshore rockfish before moving on to deeper water where they catch halibut, bass, and yellowtail. Now, they can’t be in possession of the rockfish within the designated area, even if they caught the fish within 120 feet of the surface.

Small changes in the restrictions can have a rippling affect on the economies of fishing towns. The boat owner is not the only person affected financially.

"All I can fish now is halibut," Grundmeier said. "I used to have six guys working with me full-time. They are all gone. I would spend $1,500 on 1,000 to 1,200 gallons of gas every week. If I don’t fish, I don’t make any money."

"This is going to affect all fishing communities," said Olde Port Fishery’s Cohen. "The restaurants will be forced to look to other sources for their fish. The fishermen will lose their market share, and they won’t get it back," Cohen said.

Other sources of fish are Mexico and Canada. Restaurant owners who used the locally caught rock cod on their menus will have to make some adjustments.

Jim Leage, whose family owns Morro Bay restaurants Great American Fish Co., The Harbor Hut, and The Outrigger, said he’ll be somewhat affected by the ban.

"Basically the only fish that we won’t now be able to get locally is red snapper. I used to use red snapper for our fish and chips, but the regulations in the past few years have made it pretty tough," he said.

The Olde Port Inn in Port San Luis will also be hurt by the ban. Executive Chef David Whitestiene says the restaurant uses rock cod in many of its dishes, including fish and chips, ciopino, and fish sandwiches.

"It’s definitely not a good thing. I will have to use a Mexican cod, and it can be 20 [percent] to 45 percent more expensive," Whitestiene said.

Over time, the higher cost that restaurants are now paying could be passed on to customers.

What’s next?

The current "emergency ban" is in place until the end of this year when permanent restrictions will be adopted. They will be decided on by the Pacific Fisheries Management Council at a meeting in Portland, Ore., from Sept. 9 to 13.

The proposed guidelines could be worse than what’s in place right now. One of the following guidelines will be chosen as the new law:

• No fishing for rockfish deeper than 60 feet, with a new five-fish bag limit for nearshore rockfish (reduced from 10 now). There would also be a complete closure in all waters in March and April.

• No fishing for rockfish deeper than 120 feet, and a seven-fish limit of nearshore rockfish with total closures in March, April, November, and December.

• No fishing for rockfish beyond 120 feet with a 10-fish limit for nearshore rockfish, and a six-month closure from November through April.

"A five-fish limit will put people out of business," said Rick Bush, office manager for Patriot Sport Fishing in Port San Luis. "People are not going to pay money to go out and catch five fish."

Most fishermen agree that there needs to be a balance between overfishing the ocean and putting people out of business.

"Most fishermen are in shock, although some do think it’s about time," said Richard Parrish, a biologist for the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Fishermen profess to know a lot about the ocean they work with every day. Most of them grew up on it with their fathers and grandfathers who were fishermen before them. They think that if environmentalists can work with them instead of against them they can come up with a reasonable solution to these problems.

"Nobody feels for the commercial fisherman anymore. People think they’re swarthy characters. Many of them are well-educated people," St. John said.

Some fishermen say they don’t want unrestricted fishing in the ocean, because, ultimately, there’s no job security in that. What they want is a fair and accurate assessment of how many fish are in the ocean and then proper guidelines to follow in order to keep the environmentalists happy while allowing the boats to stay in business.

Neil, of Virg’s Sport Fishing, sees a future for people who want to have their fish in the ocean and eat them too.

"I grew up on the ocean. I probably have more in common with the environmentalists than people think," Neil said. "We don’t want to take all the fish out of the ocean. We want to align with the environmentalists in order to conserve the ocean for future generations.

"Man has no idea how big the ocean really is," he continued. "I think it’s arrogant for man to think he can fish out the ocean." Æ

Matt McBride can be reached for comments through the editor at [email protected].