THE OUTDOORS : Outdoor Notes / Rich Roberts : Blue-Shark Market to Be Sought in Compromise on Long-Line Fishing

The California Department of Fish and Game does not often cozy up to commercial fishing interests, so its position in the long-line fishing experiment was confusing to some people.

Whereas other sportsmen’s advocates were calling for an end to the experiment, the DFG, represented by Al Petrovich, chief of marine resources, and Dennis Bedford, staff marine biologist, recommended to the Fish and Game Commission at Long Beach last week that 10 commercial permits be renewed, and so they were.

Long-line fishing is the use of stainless steel gear trailed several miles behind a boat with about 100 12-foot leaders and hooks per mile.

Long-liners last year caught 130 tons of mako sharks--a prized sportfish--and more than twice as many less-desirable blue sharks, virtually all of which were released. If the experiment were to be continued a second season, the sportfishermen at least wanted the commercials moved 50 to 60 miles offshore, far away from what the sportfishermen called the “nursery” area of the makos.

The commercial fishermen said that would be dangerous in their 30-foot boats. One stood up and said, “That’s absolutely ridiculous.”

A sportfisherman responded: “You’re killing all the babies.”

Between sessions of the emotional two-day meeting, a compromise was reached that seems to give the commercial interests just enough long line to hang themselves. The DFG does not intend to endanger the makos, so commercial fishermen now must promote a market for blue sharks, which are useful for little more than crab bait unless they can be bled alive and kept fresh to shore.

But their second season will be shorter, four months instead of six, May 1-Aug. 31. And so will their lines, four miles instead of five. They will be limited to 120 tons of makos, and they will be barred from the prime inshore area bounded by Point Vicente, Catalina Island, and Point Loma.

Meanwhile, they will be performing additional research for the DFG.

“We don’t know how big that nursery area (for makos) is,” Bedford told the commission.

Petrovich said: “We feel we’re proceeding cautiously.”

Afterward, Bedford added: “I think the sportsmen came out better than they thought. If you’re going to conduct an experiment, you have to give it enough time. Also, we saw this as an opportunity to develop an under-utilized resource. We’re trying to get (the commercial fishermen) to focus on the blue sharks. They’re on notice now.”

The commercials say only a few boats can turn profits from a combined 120-ton limit on makos.

Ron Raynor of Oxnard, a spokesman for the California Longliners Assn., said: “We will build a blue shark market or we’re out of business.”

The permit for the third annual California special desert (Nelson) bighorn sheep hunt will be auctioned at the annual convention of the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep at Reno, Feb. 15-18. The first two went for $70,000 and $59,000, respectively. The money is used for research and management of the animals in California.

The permit will be valid for a 30-day season next November and December in the Marble and Kelso Peak-Old Dad mountains in San Bernardino County--the only two of about 50 bighorn habitats in the state where the animals may be hunted.

The special permit is in addition to eight general permits allocated to hunters by lottery, at $200 each. Interested persons may phone the foundation’s headquarters at (307) 527-6441.

Briefly

The Department of Fish and Game and the Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep are looking for volunteers for guzzler (water collector) and census projects scheduled through October. Phone (213) 590-5158. . . . During its meetings at Long Beach last week, the Fish and Game Commission presented a resolution honoring Bill Nott for his work on behalf of sportfishermen and marine resources. Nott, the immediate past president of the Sportfishing Assn. of California, has been hospitalized for several weeks. His wife, Winn, accepted the resolution.

The Truckee Lions will conduct their second Sierra Sweepstakes sled dog races of the season Feb. 18-19 at the Truckee-Tahoe airport. Last month’s event drew about 7,000 spectators over two days. . . . The DFG reported that 36 pronghorn antelope were drowned when the ice broke on a stream they were attempting to cross in Modoc County. Only two weeks earlier, 27 pronghorns were killed when hit by a train, also in Northern California. . . . Charles Huffman, 68, of Crescent City has been fined $2,400 for illegal possession of a bighorn sheep head, illegal gill nets, spike-jawed traps and some illegal hides. Huffman also was recently fined $5,000 for killing a trophy bull elk out of season.

The DFG has proposed a special, limited either-sex deer hunt on Catalina Island from mid-October through January. Only 300 permits would be issued. Currently, all deer hunting on the island is under the jurisdiction of the Private Lands Management Area program. . . . The DFG has fitted 20 does in the San Bernardino Mountains with radio telemetry tracking devices. The U.S. Forest Service will assist in a project to determine habitat utilization and needs and avoid conflicts with other users. . . . Non-resident hunters have until March 15 to apply for deer, antelope, moose, bighorn sheep and mountain goat licenses in Wyoming. They may write the Wyoming Game and Fish Dept., Information Section, Cheyenne, Wyo., 82009.

Joe Humphreys, an author, fisherman and fly fishing instructor at Penn State, will be guest speaker at the Sierra Pacific Flyfishers’ Feb. 16 dinner meeting at the Odyssey Restaurant in Mission Hills. Information: (818) 785-7306. . . . Mike Mathiot, Western Regional director for Quail Unlimited, will conduct a hunting and calling clinic March 2 at 7:30 p.m. at the Pasadena Center, Room C-316, 300 E. Green St. The fee will be $2. Reservations: (818) 351-0381. . . . A report here on the setback handed the geothermal power project at Hot Creek in the Eastern Sierra overlooked the influence of the Sierra Club in overturning the approval of the Mono County supervisors. Joseph Brecher, lawyer for the club’s legal defense fund, and club activist Frank Stewart played major roles in the fight.