OUTDOORS : NOTES : Gill-Net Issue Still in Limbo After Continuous Delays

The gill-net issue has been a stormy one worldwide, so why should things be different in Southern California?

Remember AB 1, the bill authored by Assemblywoman Doris Allen (R-Cypress), that went before the Assembly’s Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee last April? It’s still in limbo, which has recreational fishermen upset and legislators quarreling.

The bill would ban the use of gill nets within three miles of the Southern California coast and compensate the 280 or so permit holders affected by the ban. However, it’s been eight months since anything’s been done about it.

During the April hearing, committee Chairman Jim Costa said that after hours of testimony by AB 1 proponents and commercial fishing interests, the committee needed to learn more about the ramifications of such a bill before deciding its fate, a statement Allen says she has documented on video cassette.

Phil Troy, West Coast representative of Salt Water Sportsman Magazine and part of the AB 1 task force, said it’s little wonder considering that those hours were not put to the best of use by the committee.

“They were very rude,” Troy said of the committee members. “Costa breezed in and out . . . on the average there were probably one or two people there (at a given time).”

Regardless, an interim hearing was scheduled for Nov. 10 in Long Beach. Allen prepared a huge presentation. Thousands would be there to show their support, she said.

That date was later cancelled, Costa citing an exhausted budget. How about Jan. 2 in Sacramento? Costa suggested this, being so nice as to inform Allen, by letter, that “although the committee has heard approximately eight hours of testimony (four on AB 1), I am willing to make additional time available to you and others who wish to testify.”

Allen, feeling slighted, made her feelings known by charging bias toward commercial fishing interests on the part of Costa, who counter-charged: “The real issue is not the lack of a fair hearing, but your inability, after numerous attempts, to convince a majority of committee members that a total ban on gill nets is the only way to solve fishery problems.

“While committee members are sympathetic to the complaints of those who fish for sport, they have not been willing to destroy the commercial fishing industry which employs thousands of Californians and provides food to millions of others.”

It is widely accepted that should AB 1 pass it would not destroy or even severly impact the state’s commercial fishing industry, but the whacky evolution of the ill-fated AB 1--few give it a legitimate chance of passing--continues.

Now comes word that the Jan. 2 date has been “delayed” and Costa has asked Speaker Willie Brown for a special hearing prior to the Jan. 12 fiscal deadline.

Allen, when asked by telephone Tuesday what the next step will be, merely sighed and said, “Now I have to get back to (Costa) with a reply. . .and he gave me no suggested dates of when he can hold the hearing.”

Marlin fishing has been slow from Cabo San Lucas to the East Cape region of the Baja Peninsula, but some big fish have been taken at points between, and fishing is expected to improve as fall turns to winter.

Kevin Schultz, fishing Sunday at the Gordo Banks with his twin brother Keith aboard the C-Time, caught one of the biggest billfish taken this year--an 823-pound blue marlin.

Schultz, of Costa Mesa, used 80-pound test line for a 2 1/2-hour fight that included several attacks on the 58-foot Bertram.

Byrl Taylor of Newport Beach caught a 582-pound blue at the East Cape, according to Richard Castaneda of the Hotel SPA Buenavista.

John Doughty, a consultant to the sportfishing industry, said a large concentration of stripers, which have been conspicuously absent in recent weeks, has been sighted near Magdalena Bay on the Pacific side and should be headed south to Cabo waters.

Robert Senter of New Hampshire used a rifle to take his trophy bighorn sheep in the Old Dad Mountains of the eastern Mojave Desert last week. Senter bid $40,000 for the lone auction tag in California’s third limited bighorn hunt in 114 years,

Senter’s sheep was 8 years old and scored a respectable 160 7/8 on the Boone and Crockett “green” scale for fresh kills. He hunted without a guide and said he was tracked by some anti-hunting protesters, but they didn’t attempt to interfere.

The eight hunters who drew permits by lottery will start their two-week hunt in the same area Saturday.

Briefly

California sportfishing licenses for 1990 will be available in early December, according to the Department of Fish and Game. . . .Yellowtail continue to cooperate with the San Diego sportfishing fleet, which has been fishing the offshore kelp paddies between 30 and 80 miles out. The Predator returned Monday with 69 fish for 21 anglers.

Fishermen aboard California party boats caught 4,203,038 fish in 1988, averaging six fish per person per trip. That’s down from the eight-fish average 10 years ago. . . .The DFG has begun a $150,000 fish habitat renovation project in seven Lake Havasu coves with the placement of brush piles from 600 citrus fruit trees at selected areas of the lake’s bottom.

Nominees are being sought for the Chevron Conservation Awards for 1990. Nominations of citizen volunteers, professionals or organizations may be sent to P.O. Box 7753, San Francisco CA 94120-7753 before Friday and must include a letter of recommendation, two additional letters of endorsement, a brief biographical sketch and the nominee’s address and phone number. Winners receive $1,000.

The Fish and Game Commission will hear comment regarding new sportfishing regulations--that include a statewide, five-trout maximum limit--at a public session Friday at 1 p.m. at the California State Trustees Building in Long Beach. Final adoption will take place Dec. 21 in Sacramento. Little opposition is expected regarding the reduction from 10 trout to five.

Reservations for Saturday’s open house at Abel Automatics--manufacturers of Abel Fly Reels--will be accepted until noon Thursday. Information: (805) 484-8789.

Seminars: Lefty Kreh on fly fishing, Saturday, Dec. 2, 9 a.m., at Marriott’s in Fullerton (714-525-1827); Chuck Garrison on saltwater fishing, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 7-10 p.m., at Great American Savings community room in Anaheim (714-637-6949).