Southern California marine sport fishing from privately-owned boats: catch and effort for July-September 1981

Abstract

The catch landed and effort expended by private-boat sport fishermen were studied in southern California between July and September 1981, in order to determine the impact of one segment of the sport fishery on local marine resources. Fishermen returning from fishing trips were interviewed at launch ramps, hoists, and boat-rental facilities. This report contains quantitative data and statistical estimates of total effort, total catch, catch of preferred species, and length frequencies for those species whose catches are regulated by minimum size limits. An estimated 356,000 organisms were landed by 134,000 anglers and 5,400 divers. The major components of the catch were Pacific mackerel, Scomber japonicus, 89,000 landed; Pacific bonito, Sarda chiliensis, 82,000 landed; white croaker, Genyonemus lineatus, 34,000 landed; and bass, Paralabrax spp., 33,000 landed. These species made up two-thirds of the total catch. Anglers' compliance with size-limit regulations was variable. Approximately 88% of all measured bass were legal size. The proportion of legal-size white seabass, Atractoscion nobilis, rose from 9% last quarter to 18% this quarter, but dropped for California halibut, Paralichthys californicus, from 79% to 66%. Divers' compliance with size limits on abalone, Haliotis spp., rose slightly from 89% to 91%. (31pp.