Outdoor Notes : Group Asks Investigation of Gill Net Catches of Marlin

The Pacific Region of the National Coalition for Marine Conservation has asked the California Department of Fish and Game to investigate recent reports of high incidental catches of striped marlin in commercial fishermen’s drift gill nets near Santa Barbara Island and the Osborne Bank.

Carl Nettleton, regional executive director, said: “We received reports of as many as 200 marlin being taken in an individual drift gill net, and although that report seems almost beyond belief, other reports have seemed much closer to what we would have expected, ranging from 14 to 63 marlin per night in individual nets.”

Nettleton added, however, that none of the reporting individuals, gill net fishermen themselves, would link specific numbers of marlin to specific boats on specific dates.

The DFG’s drift gill net observation program has been limited and has not recorded many incidental catches of striped marlin, according to the coalition.

“A commercial fisherman is required to turn the marlin they catch over to the DFG,” Nettleton said. “If they fail to do so, they can lose their permits to use the gill net gear.”

Burton E. Moore Jr. of Charleston, S.C., a self-taught painter of waterfowl and hunting dogs, has won this year’s national waterfowl art contest. His rendition of a male fulvous whistling duck, a long-necked bird, will therefore be recreated on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s federal migratory bird hunting stamp.

Moore said that he hadn’t planned to enter, but then submitted his work, acrylic on Masonite, because of his deep interest in the fulvous duck, whose name refers to its deep yellow or tawny color.

“I really wasn’t that familiar with the bird until three flew over my hunting blind a few years ago,” Moore said. “I didn’t shoot them because I didn’t immediately recognize them. The birds intrigued me.”

The federal government offers no prize for the winning entry but Moore is expected to become a wealthy man anyway. Commercial wildlife art dealers are usually eager to market limited edition reprints of the winning design under private agreement with the winner.

“It’s going to make a big difference in my life,” Moore said. “I can concentrate now on priorities and I don’t need to be as concerned about distractions.”

Only four of 23 hunters registered kills but DFG wildlife specialists were pleased anyway with the first weekend of controlled wild pig hunting in the Tehama Wildlife Area east of Red Bluff.

Most hunters saw pigs or got shots, and of the four pigs shot, three were wearing ear tags, indicating that they had been among 93 animals trapped and moved to the state area last summer from nearby private lands in an effort to reduce crop damage.

“We’re very pleased to find out that at least some of those pigs styed on the wildlife area, rather than retreat back to the private lands,” said Ken Zani, habitat supervisor who manages the wildlife area.

Briefly The DFG said that quick action by the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has greatly increased the chances of successful spawning by more than 10,000 king salmon. PGE diverted additional water into the Battle Creek drainage between Shasta and Tehama Counties in late October and early November, providing needed spawning space for surplus fish that migrated to Coleman National Fish Hatchery downstream. Hatchery personnel bypassed the excess fish to the upstream habitat in the Battle Creek drainage. . . . Tom Alexander, the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s boating enforcement coordinator, has won this year’s Bonner Award, given by the National Assn. of State Boating Law Administrators. . . . Pat Rivera, 16, of Canyon Country knows all about beginner’s luck. On his first expedition for striped bass on Lake Mead, and using 15-pound-test line, he caught a striper that weighed in at 37 3/4 pounds. . . . Marilynn Bonin, former legislative coordinator in the Department of Food and Agriculture, has joined the DFG as public affairs officer. . . . The California Black Bass Fisheries Board is seeking public opinion on problems facing black bass and black bass anglers, according to Patrick Marley, board chairman. Marley may be contacted at (213) 557-2288. . . . About 40 desert bighorn sheep were transplanted by the Arizona Game and Fish Department from the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge to Black Mountain in southwestern Yavapai County, and to central Arizona’s Mazatzal Wilderness Area. . . . Forty pronghorn antelope were captured on the Umatilla Army Depot near Pendleton, Ore., and transplanted to central Nevada to prevent overuse of the Umatilla habitat. . . . The Santa Fe Recreational Area Support Foundation will have a trout derby at the Santa Fe Dam in Irwindale Dec. 7 to raise money for its handicapped fishing program. . . . Showtime: Don Bullock’s Gun and Collector’s Show, Nov. 30-Dec. 1, Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.