OUTDOOR NOTES : Budget Takes a Bite of Wildlife Preservation Fund

A leaner, if not meaner, state Department of Fish and Game seems likely in the wake of a $12.6-million cut in the 1990-91 budget.

The new budget, which became effective Sunday, is $127.4 million, down from $130 million last fiscal year. It may not require layoffs in personnel, but it will hurt programs directly affecting hunters and fishermen.

All of the $12.6 million will come off the Wildlife Preservation Fund’s budget, which had been submitted at $72.4 million but drops now to $59.8 million. WPF funds come from the sale of hunting and fishing licenses and are used only for such programs as the operation and maintenance of fish hatcheries and the preparation of environmental documents to justify specific hunts.

The rest of the DFG’s budget may be spent on purchasing habitat and nongame projects.

“Our overall dollar total is not real bad, but we can’t spend money where we’d like to spend it,” DFG spokesman Ted Thomas said.

Earlier, the state assembly had proposed chopping the $12.6 million from the DFG in an across-the-board move to address the state’s $3.6-billion shortfall, while the senate proposed helping the DFG with the same amount from the general fund. When the two met in joint conference committee last week, the assembly prevailed.

The DFG already was operating under restrictions on capital outlay and overtime and business expenses by employees. The new budget, although not yet completely allocated, probably will force the closing of the Mojave fish hatchery at Tehachapi, which supplies most of the trout to Southern California, and the Imperial Valley facility, the state’s only catfish hatchery.

The DFG also might be unable to prepare enough required wildlife environmental reports and could lose some hunts to court challenges as a result.

A $1-million undercover, anti-poaching program also seems doomed, but Thomas said: “We are hopeful we can avoid layoffs.”

The state has 375 game wardens, among them 23 graduates of the academy at Vallejo last month. Thomas indicated that vital programs would be continued.

“We’re going to get the job done,” he said.

Marlin season officially gets under way in Southland waters today, but Costa Mesa’s Guy Page got a head start by catching an estimated 180-pound striper at the 209 fathom spot, about 30 miles off Newport Harbor at 150 degrees on the compass.

Page tagged and released his marlin, thus earning an award from the prestigious Balboa Angling Club for the first billfish released in 1990. Sean McWhinney of Huntington Harbor caught the first marlin of the year, on New Year’s Day--a 110-pounder taken off Point Loma.

Avalon Seafood and the San Diego Marlin Club--the Southland’s other two primary weigh stations--had not weighed any marlin as of Tuesday afternoon.

The State Water Resources Control Board’s 3-2 vote to impose minimum flow restrictions on the East Walker River is being hailed as the final victory in that two-year battle led by CalTrout, the conservation lobby, and the Department of Fish and Game.

A group of Nevada farmers organized as the Walker River Irrigation District devastated one of the state’s best trout fisheries with a massive release of water in 1988. Since, a Mono County court has ordered them to clean out the silt, and fishing is coming back in the lower reaches a mile below the Bridgeport Reservoir dam.

Jim Edmondson, regional director for CalTrout, said: “With this ruling, we think that within five years the East Walker can become one of the finest wild brown trout fisheries in western America.”

Briefly

Proceeds of the Balboa Angling Club’s 1990 Master Angler Billfish Tournament Sept. 12-16 will be donated to the campaign to pass the Marine Resources Conservation Act--the gill-net initiative--the club announced. Last year’s tournament involved 14 clubs and 258 anglers. . . . Reservation applications for the fall deer and wild-pig hunting season at Camp Roberts--on the San Luis Obispo-Monterey County lines--are now available. Applicants are to send a stamped, self-addressed, legal-sized envelope to Camp Roberts Wildlife Program, California Department of Fish and Game, P.O. Box 6360, Los Osos, Calif., 93412-6306. Applications for the August 25-Sept. 3 hunts must be returned by July 31. Details: (805) 238-8167.

The DFG’s 1990 hunting regulations booklet contains an error regarding bag and possession limits for zone B4 deer hunters. The limit is one buck, forked horns or better, per tag, instead of the two bucks, as listed in the booklet.

The more than 100 men and women with ambitions to join the 1991 U.S. Sport Climbing team will compete in the Danskin championships at Snowbird, Utah, today through Sunday. Competition will be on the 115-foot wall--the nation’s highest--of the Cliff Lodge. Results will have a strong bearing on selection of the four men, two women and eight alternates to be selected for the U.S. team. . . . A fin-clipping project led by CalTrout to monitor fish planted in troubled Crowley Lake has topped its goal of 75,000 this year. With 90 volunteers from several Southern California fishing clubs participating, 100,000 fish have been clipped.

Fishing Instruction: Southern California Saltwater Workshop, July 7 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Holiday Inn in Fullerton, featuring industry experts. Cost is $30. Details: (714) 840-6555.

Fly fishing: Summer bass with Skip Conrad, Orange County’s Oso Reservoir (cast for bass July 12, boat for bass July 19 and float-tube for bass July 26). Cost is $35. . . . Charlene Hanson, introductory fly tying each Monday night, advanced tying each Friday night through July at Bob Marriott’s Flyfishing Center in Fullerton; Phil Eubanks, 1 1/2-day introductory fly fishing classes each weekend at Marriott’s; author Dave Hughes, tying and tips Saturday, July 19 at the Sierra Pacific Flyfishers’ 7:30 p.m. meeting at Odyssey Restaurant, Mission Hills (818) 785-7306, and July 21, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., at Marriott’s.

Times staff writer Pete Thomas contributed to this story.