OUTDOOR NOTES : Mexico’s New Rules a Break for Anglers

After a period of panic followed by sensible reasoning, the new Mexican saltwater sportfishing regulations will go into place this week--and they won’t be too hard to take.

Most important, anglers will be able to take up to 10 tuna per day--five each of yellowfin and albacore--or 30 on a long-range trip (15 and 15), which isn’t quite as good as 40 under the old laws but a lot better than the six, or two per day, proposed in March.

Although more restrictive to American anglers than before, the new regulations won’t be nearly as tough as those first proposed by former Mexican fisheries secretary Maria de Los Angeles Moreno Uriagas. It was feared those rules would have put San Diego’s long-range fleet out of business.

When the Americans’ alarm became known--chiefly through the efforts of Bob Fletcher, president of the Sportfishing Assn. of California--Uriagas was replaced by Guillermo Jiminez Morales, with whom Fletcher negotiated a workable plan.

The main features:

Old regulations--Five fish of any one species with overall limit of 10 per day, including limit of three dorado or two marlin per day.

New regulations--Same, except no more than one marlin, sailfish or swordfish and no more than two tarpon, dorado, roosterfish or shark in combination.

Old--For trips of more than four days, 20 yellowfin and 20 albacore tuna among overall limit of 40 fish.

New--For trips of more than three days, limits will be the accumulative equivalent of three individual days of fishing, as stated above.

Old--Unlimited number of hooks.

New--One single rod or hand-line, with one hook, except four hooks may be used when bottom fishing and fishing for live bait. “Incidental” catches of limited species will be allowed.

Also, any catches exceeding limits may be caught and released in good survival condition, and a “reasonable” amount of live bait will continue to be permitted, although no specific amount is stated.

Fletcher credited U.S. Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham (R-San Diego) and Barnard Thompson, CEO of Mexican Information and Research Associates, for their key roles.

“SAC is extremely pleased that we were able to have a hand in convincing the Ministry of Fisheries of Mexico that changes were needed,” Fletcher said. “But it would never have happened without Duke Cunningham bringing it to the right people’s attention and the expert professional assistance of Barnard Thompson.”

The new regulations will be published today in Diario Oficial, a government publication, and will go into effect Thursday.

Briefly

CONSERVATION--A historic trout fishery will be reborn Friday at 10 a.m. when representatives of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the California Department of Fish and Game and local political officials turn a valve to release water into the middle section of the Owens Gorge north of Bishop. The ceremony will be at the Upper Gorge Power Plant, the first of three in the 19-mile gorge between Crowley Lake and Pleasant Valley Reservoir. A flow of 16 cubic feet per second has always reached that far from springs and seepage in Long Valley Dam, but the lower 10 miles of the gorge has been dry for almost 40 years since DWP diverted the flows to the power plants. When a penstock--an eight-foot-diameter pipe--carrying the water burst in March, fishing and conservation interests brought pressure to bear on DWP to return water to the gorge, instead of using a makeshift flume until the penstock could be repaired. Mono County Dist. Atty. Stan Eller sued the DWP under the state Fish and Game Code a week after the DWP began talks with the DFG to consider rewatering, and the DWP later agreed to do it. . . . The American Bass Assn. will conduct a fund-raising team tournament, barbecue and seminar at Lake Casitas Saturday to assist its A.B.A. Plant-a-Bass program. Details: (213) 376-1026.

JURISPRUDENCE--Muoi Van Nguyen has been nabbed again. A longtime convicted violator of commercial fishing laws, Nguyen was cited last week by the California Department of Fish and Game Capt. Gene Martin, aboard the patrol boat Hammerhead, for fishing illegally (no permit) with a 1 1/2-mile longline between Catalina Island and the mainland. The DFG, tipped by the Coast Guard, seized 575 pounds of bonito and mako shark. According to the DFG, Nguyen has been cited repeatedly since 1978 and was carrying a letter informing him he needed a special permit for longlining.

SALTWATER FISHING--Ed Vasquez of Redondo Beach had the largest catch in the first week of the 16-week Saltwater Whoppers Derby at 12 landings from Santa Barbara to San Diego. Vasquez, fishing on the half-day Redondo Special, took a 37-pound white sea bass. Marilyn Roth of Hacienda Heights would have had the biggest yellowtail at 34 pounds if she had paid her $2 entry fee before leaving the dock. Sea Landing at Santa Barbara reported a run of halibut to 24 pounds Tuesday. . . . A nine-day fly-fishing excursion to the Alijos Rocks organized by Steve Abel is scheduled for Oct. 14-23 on the 113-foot Royal Polaris out of San Diego. The trip is limited to 30 anglers and costs $2,800. Details: (805) 484-8789.

BAJA FISHING--Blue marlin in the 200-pound range are showing up off Cabo San Lucas. The Tortuga Fleet took three, while averaging about 2 1/2 striped marlin per day, according to Darrell Primrose. Dorado catches are fair but running from 34 to 45 pounds; sailfish are around 75 pounds, and roosterfish are plentiful at 40 to 60 pounds. . . . At Rancho Buena Vista on the East Cape, Judge Jim Walsworth of Rancho Mirage took a 92-pound yellowfin in a 1 1/2-hour fight on 30-pound test line. . . . The Red Rooster out of San Diego reported limits of yellowfin and wahoo on a 16-day trip to Socorro, Clarion, San Benedicto and Roca Partida. Pat Parker of Oceanside landed a 265-pound yellowfin. . . . Nine anglers on the Vagabond took six bluefin tuna, 71 yellowtail and 64 calico bass on a six-day trip to Guadalupe Island.