OUTDOOR NOTES : Phase I in Gill-Net Ban Finished With Petition

Outlawing gill-nets off the Cali.fornia coast moved one step closer to reality Tuesday with the announcement that an initiative that would ban the controversial gear will be placed on the ballot in November.

Secretary of State March Fong Eu’s office said counts in from 52 of California’s 58 counties totaled 667,438 verified signatures. Only 655,000 were necessary to qualify the measure, authored by Assemblywoman Doris Allen (R-Cypress).

If approved, the measure will ban gill-nets along the Southern California coast from Point Arguello to the Mexican border, including the Channel Islands, and make permanent the present ban along the Northern and Central California coast.

“Phase I is over, Phase II is beginning,” said Jim Paulk, fund-raising chairman for the Committee to Ban Gill-Nets. “They say they’re going to raise a million dollars to fight this effort. We want to raise a minimum of $500,000.”

Joe Cracchiolo, a director with the California Gill-Netters Assn., said the commercial fishing industry will campaign against the measure, and that the price of fish will increase if it is approved by voters.

“Especially in the Los Angeles area, because we’re one of the highest producers,” he said. “It’s definitely going to affect the prices. And there will be a lot less fresh fish--everybody will be eating frozen fish.”

Rob Ross, executive director of the Sacramento-based California Fisheries and Seafood Institute, said commercial fishing industry leaders are in the process of formulating a strategy.

“We have two options. One is to wage a campaign against it in the vote, the other is to look at it from a legal standpoint,” he said.

Allen’s bill would compensate commercial fishermen for the loss of their gill-net permits after January 1, 1994--the funds coming from the sale of a $3 Marine Protection Stamp that would be required of recreational fishermen.

Allen said the initiative was inevitable, adding: “This type of gear is like fishing with dynamite, and a tremendous loss of marine life results from gill-nets. Now that the initiative is on the ballot, we can unite to ban gill-nets forever.”

Tarzana’s Pat Snyder, a light-tackle specialist with two line-class world records already, will have three if the International Game Fish Assn. approves her catch of a 22.74-pound skipjack tuna during the Hawaiian Light Tackle Tournament Saturday off Kailua-Kona.

In 1986, Snyder caught a 63-pound roosterfish off Baja California’s Punta Colorada, good for a world record in the women’s 16-pound test category.

In 1977, she caught a 43-pound 8-ounce roosterfish in the same area, using six-pound test. After she hooked up, the boat’s engine died and she was forced to fight the fish without the aid of the skipper’s maneuvering.

“I had to walk around the boat several times, following the fish, and I was sure I was going to lose it,” she said.

The crew took the carburetor apart while Snyder was fighting the fish and eventually got the engine started. She ended up landing it after three hours, more than a half dozen miles from where she hooked up. Since there is no six-pound test category, the catch is a world record in the eight-pound category.

Snyder, 57, fought the skipjack for about 10 minutes off Hawaii’s Kona Coast. The women’s line-class record is a 20.1-pound skipjack caught by Charlott Nottage of Kailua-Kona in 1982.

Grunion runs are scheduled on Southern California beaches 11 p.m.-1 a.m. Sunday night, 11:50 p.m.-1:50 a.m. Monday night, 12:40-2:40 a.m. Wednesday morning and 1-3 a.m. Thursday morning.