Onboard sampling of the rockfish and lingcod commerical passenger fishing vessel industry in northern and central California, January through December 1993

The Central California Marine Sport Fish Project has been collecting angler catch data on board Commercial Passenger Fishing Vessels (CPFVs) fishing for rockfish or lingcod since 1987. The program depends on the voluntary cooperation of CPFV owners and operators. This third report in a series presents data collected in 1993, refers to historical data from 1987 to 1992, and documents trends in species composition, angler effort, catch per unit effort (CPUE), and, for selected species, mean length and length frequency.Angler catches on board central and northern California CPFVs were sampled from 15 ports, ranging from Crescent City in the north to Port San Luis (Avila Beach) in the south.Technicians observed a total of 2385 anglers fishing on 248 CPFV trips. These observed anglers caught 29,622 fish of which Technicians determined 27,421 were kept. Over 60% of these fish were caught at Monterey or Morro Bay area ports. Only 18 of the 58 species each comprised at least one percent of the catch. The top ten species in order of abundance were blue, yellowtail, chilipepper, rosy, widow, canary, greenspotted, bocaccio, and vermilion rockfishes and lingcod. Blue and yellowtail rockfishes, and chilipepper, together comprised over 50% of the observed catch. Overall, rockfishes represented 35 species or 59% of the 58 identified species.In general, 1993 data indicated that in all port areas CPFV fishery resources, with a few exceptions, were in a viable and sustainable condition, similar to the previous 6 years. This study identified nine species, lingcod and eight rockfishes, with areas of concern which were primarilyport-specific. Six of these ranked among the 10 most frequently observed species, five were schooling or migratory species, two were nearshore species, and three were offshore species. Trends of most concern continue to be declining catch per angler hour (CPAH) - of yellowtailrockfish in the Bodega Bay area, lingcod in shallow locations near the Monterey area, and yelloweye rockfish in the San Francisco area, as well as decreasing mean lengths of canary rockfish in the Monterey area and brown rockfish in the Morro Bay area. Populations of black rockfish, the species presently of greatest concern in the CPFV fishery, showed some positive signs this year. Also on the positive side, the Monterey and Morro Bay areas experienced anincreased availability of newly-recruited smaller, juvenile vermilion rockfish in observed catches. Total catch estimates were within values observed in previous years. (132pp.)