Fishing Limits on Key Species Take Effect

Adopting the recommendations of federal marine scientists, the U.S. secretary of commerce on Wednesday dramatically cut back catch limits on several of the most commercially valuable Pacific Coast ocean fish.

Slashing allowable catches by as much as 65%, the new limits were ordered in an attempt to halt the decline of popular ground fish species including black cod, ocean perch, lingcod, dover sole and various rockfish.

“These are the most restrictive limits ever to be imposed on ground fish,” said Bill Robinson, assistant regional administrator for sustainable fisheries for the National Marine Fisheries Service, which reports to the Department of Commerce.

Acknowledging the fears of the West Coast fishing industry, Robinson said that the new limits, which go into effect today, are likely to have “a dramatically negative effect” on the industry along the California-Oregon-Washington coastline.

There are 83 species of ground fish. While most have been subject to at least modest catch limits in the past, the 1998 restrictions focus on eight of the most sought-after species, Robinson said.

“The regulations affect the heart of the fishery,” he said.

For example, four of the species subject to the new limits account for more than half of the total value of California’s annual commercial fishing harvest.

Robinson said that even with the new limits it may take decades for some species to return to healthy population levels.

Experts blame the decline partly on warmer water, attributed to the El Nino effect, that has depleted nutrients that fish depend on. But overfishing by huge trawlers and other vessels equipped with state-of-the-art technology is considered to be the main culprit.

In addition, some experts point to the rapid growth of the live-fish market, which targets small fish, often taking them before they have had a chance to reproduce. Instead of going to processing plants, the fish are taken directly to restaurants where they are stored in tanks until they are prepared for customers.

Representatives of the West Coast fishing industry have objected strenuously to the new restrictions, arguing that they are based on inadequate survey data by government scientists who don’t know how to count fish.

The scientists have admitted that their data are sometimes questionable and, in the past, they said, the uncertainties caused them to hold off recommending strict catch limits.

While the new limits “may be a case of erring on the side of safety,” said Richard Methot of the National Marine Fisheries Service, “we don’t think ground fish can maintain sustainable populations under current fishing pressures.”

Environmental groups say that strict limits should have been imposed years ago.

Ground fish were fished down over the last 20 years on the theory that the thinned populations would become more productive, said marine ecologist Rod Fujita of the Environmental Defense Fund. But because ground fish take years to mature, Fujita said, their rate of reproduction did not keep pace with allowable catch rates.