Shark Fishing Permits to Be Renewed

The California Fish and Game Commission voted Friday at Long Beach to renew 10 experimental commercial long-line fishing permits for sharks off the Southern California coast for another season, after commercial and sportfishing interests compromised.

At issue was where and how heavily commercial vessels should be permitted to fish with long lines. They will be restricted to an area outside a triangle bounded by Point Vicente, Catalina Island and Point Loma, as they were for part of 1988.

The sportfishers contended that the bordering areas were a breeding ground for the short-fin mako sharks, popular table fare in Southern California. Data from observers assigned by the DFG indicated that most of the makos taken in the ’88 experiment were only 1 or 2 years old.

Long-line fishing involves the use of stainless steel gear trailed several miles behind a boat with about 100 12-foot leaders and hooks per mile. The method is illegal in California, which was not determined until a couple of years after a few boats started doing it 1984.

A year ago, there was concern that the long lines, trailed a few feet below the surface, would collect striped marlin as well as sharks. However, DFG data showed there were no striped marlin or other billfish in the total catch, which was composed of 29% mako (130 tons), 62% blue sharks, 8% pelagic (open sea) stingrays, 3 California sea lions, 2 sea turtles and 1 giant sea bass. All of the latter three species were released alive, according to the DFG, as were an estimated 10,000 blues, since they are considered useless except as crab bait.

In the tighter ’89 regulations, long lines will be cut from 5 to 4 miles; the season will be trimmed from 6 to 4 months, May through August, and the mako take will be limited to 120 tons. There is no limit on blues.