THE OUTDOORS : IN TROUBLED WATERS? : Lack of Albacore Has San Diego Fleet, Local Anglers Frustrated to No End

Anyone who has visited the sportfishing landings here regularly in summer over the years knows that things have changed. The crowds are smaller and the landings aren’t nearly as busy as they used to be.

The reason is simple. There are no albacore to be caught.

For the third straight year, albacore, the bread and butter of the world’s most modern and largest sportfishing fleet, have been virtual nonexistent, leaving thousands of fishermen who normally flock here for their annual “tuna fix” frustrated, and the many skippers and landing operators struggling to pay their bills.

During bountiful seasons of years past, the arrival of this feisty species of tuna signaled fishermen from all walks of life to gather here.

The fleet of overnight sportfishers would be geared up for the assault, the skippers smiling as they watched their boats fill to capacity.

“It was like Disneyland on a Saturday,” Phil Lobred, owner of H & M Landing, said of the once-bustling waterfront.

But for the last three years it has been quiet.

The situation is by no means desperate but business has dropped considerably. Without the albacore, many fishermen have chosen to stay closer to home, for less attractive fish.

Those who did book trips this year found themselves taking mere boat rides--100 miles south, 100 miles back. No fish.

“They’d get downright hostile,” Lobred said. “I had one guy call me, demanding his money back. He was insistent that the price should decrease according to the fish count.”

There also have been many cancellations. Bill Poole, owner of Fishermen’s Landing, said: “You’d be surprised at how many people’s wives need operations when the fish aren’t biting. We get all sorts of excuses of why people can’t go.”

Even the commercial catches have dropped dramatically. During the last 25 years, commercial fishing boats in California have caught an average of 20,215,000 pounds of albacore a year. In 1986 the commercial catch was just 7,018,000 pounds and in 1987 it was 3,090,000 pounds.

“And it looks like this year will be worse,” said biologist Terri Dickerson of the Department of Fish and Game.

Fortunately for skippers and fishermen alike, a phenomenal yellowtail bite in August helped the situation a little.

From July 1 to August 31, the 3 landings combined to catch 32,184 of the hearty jacks, most in August at the Coronado Islands just south of San Diego. During the same period in 1987, the fleet caught 18,749.

Said John Collins, manager of Point Loma Sportfishing: “That gave a little boost to what otherwise might have been a flop.”

Just why the albacore haven’t shown in recent years is anyone’s guess. Even marine biologists are puzzled.

There are many theories, however, ranging from fluctuating temperatures at sea to overfishing by commercial fishing boats, to pollution--mainly south of the border.

Whatever the reason, the number of albacore caught by San Diego sportfishing boats this season would have a difficult time making up a dozen. And that leaves fishermen to consider different, usually more costly, options.

A trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, perhaps. There are plenty of tuna there. Or maybe Oregon and Washington, where the albacore bite is excellent.

Some good catches, although they are spotty, have also been reported recently off Morro Bay, with fish averaging a healthy 25 to 35 pounds.

But for San Diego, which normally does well, no such luck. Bypassed again.

“Albacore are an automatic draw,” Lobred said. “People call and say, ‘Got any albacore? No. OK, goodby.’ ”

Nick Cates, owner of the New Lo-An and the Prowler, said: “We’re dependent on some type of (exotic) fish all right. It could (also) be yellowtail, white sea bass or tuna.

But albacore is the main draw, he said. “If we don’t get the albacore, we might be operating as low as 20%.”

Joe Chait, 28, bought his boat, the Conquest, just before the 1985 season. He moved to San Diego seven years ago and had witnessed excellent fishing seasons.

“During the El Nino (warm-water current) in 1983, they were bringing back excellent catches of tropical fish--millions,” he recalled.

So, he bought a boat hoping to get in on the action.

“In 1985, my first year owning the boat, it was a bonanza albacore year,” he said. “But then in 1986 the bite stopped. It was our toughest year. The water was cold and dirty. We were lucky, though, because during 1985 we fished more than 130 days and that carried us into the next year.”

Most boat-owners say they need to fish at least 100 days a year to make ends meet. Many have fallen short in recent years.

“During the last couple years, a lot of guys were lucky to get 60 or 70 days on the water,” Cates said. “That’s not going to make it.”

Some boats have run only 40 to 60 trips so far, and many of those were without full passenger loads.

Indeed, hard times are becoming more evident by the day, as boats that would normally be out fishing sit idly at the docks, locked up.

Lobred said that of his landing’s 24 boats, business is about a third of what it would be during an average albacore season.

“They’re hurting all right,” he said of the boat-owners. “I’d say there are about 3 or 4 (skippers) that are close to going out of business. The others will have to tighten their belts and try to get another loan to keep going.”

Poole said he expects a similar situation among the boat owners running out of his landing, barring a late and consistent showing of tuna this fall.

“We’re praying like hell for a tuna bite like we had last September,” he said. “Then these guys can pay their bills. Otherwise, there are going to be some boats for sale.”

After last year’s poor albacore season, Poole estimated the overnight boat business at the 3 landings to be down by about 75% at the end of August.

Luckily, an unseasonable yet pleasantly surprising mixture of tuna, mostly bigeye and bluefin, moved within range and bit steadily for 2 solid months, cutting the fleet’s losses significantly.

Currently, the boats with greater range have been running 4- and 5-day trips and have caught impressive numbers of yellowfin tuna about 150 miles south of San Diego. Some bigeye tuna are being caught closer to the landings but most are incidental catches on trolled lures.

Whether or not these fish move north to within range of the overnight boats remains to be seen.

Poole said that on any given day between 2 and 6 a.m., sometimes as many as half of his fleet’s 20 boats are inactive.

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In all, there are about 65 sportfishers that rely on the 24-hour fishing trips to survive. Come spring, they fish for yellowtail, mostly at the nearby Coronado Islands. Then, as summer closes in the skippers wait anxiously for the albacore.

In recent years, however, they might as well have been waiting for Moby Dick.