An interesting article from today’s newspaper. Morbidly funny comments from commercial fishermen @ the end of the article. This action is (IMHO) long overdue and probably too little-too late. Over thirty years ago I was fishin fer silvers @ Pt D and these guys came by w/so many rockfish that they were carryin em with the helpf a large pole supported on their shoulders--musta been a hundred of good sized rockfish.

Rockfish limits only beginning of restrictions

By Hal Bernton
Seattle Times staff reporter

In an effort to protect several depleted species of rockfish, the Pacific Fishery Management Council this week approved sweeping fishing limits to take effect this year and outlined options for more restrictions in 2003.

In a meeting in Culver City, Calif., that marked a painful turning point in West Coast fisheries, the council imposed tough new restrictions on California sport fishing and approved a Sept. 1 closure of a broad, productive swath of the ocean bottom to commercial rockfishing.

Options under consideration for next year could put much of the prime Pacific halibut fishing grounds off limits to Washington sport fishermen and also limit the areas open to sport fishing for rockfish.

The protection efforts are the undersea equivalent of forestry efforts to protect the spotted owl, said Phil Anderson, a Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist who serves on the council.

"I've been on this council for 15 years, and this groundfish issue is the greatest challenge that we've ever faced," Anderson said.

Rockfish — often sold in supermarkets as red snapper — are a signature fish of the West Coast, with more than 80 species swimming off the coasts of Oregon, Washington and California.

The council actions are intended to protect seven seriously overfished rockfish species. Some of these species — bocaccio, yelloweye, canary — may live to be 80 to 100 years of age, and recovery is expected to take decades.

The council is a mix of federal, state, industry and other officials charged by federal law with helping to manage a coastal fishing zone off Washington, Oregon and California that ranges from three miles to 200 miles out to sea. Its recommendations will be sent to the federal Department of Commerce for final approval.

None of the council restrictions will affect Puget Sound, which is managed separately by the state and which already has tight rockfish limits imposed for anglers.

The rockfish-conservation efforts will hit hardest at a West Coast commercial trawl and hook-and-line fleet that already has been socked in recent years by earlier harvest cutbacks. This fleet includes more than 70 Washington vessels based out of Neah Bay, Bellingham, Westport and other state ports.

To protect the dark-blotched rockfish, the commercial bottom-fishing boats will be banned from depths of 600 to 1,500 feet off Washington and Oregon. The restrictions are likely to make rockfish harder to find — and drive up supermarket prices. And some commercial fishermen are likely to be pushed out of business.

Fishermen who attended the meeting expressed shock at the council's actions.

"I expect two-thirds of the fleet to go out of business,'' said Bill James, a nearshore commercial fisherman in the Morro Bay area of California. "The way it looks now, we're not going to be able to access those fish and that's going to be devastating."

Hal Bernton: 206-464-2581 or hbernton@seattletimes.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2002 The Seattle Times Company