Record Albacore Season May Be History Before Its Time

If you landed an albacore aboard a party boat this year, you helped make history.

Southland anglers are enjoying the best albacore season ever, according to dock totals from Morro Bay to San Diego.

As of Tuesday, fishermen aboard one- and 1 1/2-day boats had sacked 196,968 longfin tuna, way up from the 128,344 logged by recreational fleets last year.

If you add the counts from San Diego’s multiday vessels, the score goes up to 237,213. (And this is naively assuming that everyone complied with the five-fish limit in Mexican waters.)

The best year previously was 1962, 229,314 albacore.

As for bluefin tuna, one- and 1 1/2-day boats as of Tuesday had caught 14,546 fish, down slightly from last year. If you count the multiday boats, which have greater range, the number increases to 31,369, making this the second-best year on record. Only 2,818 were needed to break the record 34,187 bluefin caught in 1956.

The bluefin record probably also will be broken because they’re still swimming around with the albacore, and both species figure to stick around awhile, so this might also turn out to be one of the longest seasons on record.

“This is probably the longest albacore season I can remember, and I’ve been here 32 years,” says Paul Morris, general manager of Fisherman’s Landing in San Diego. “I’ve never seen it start in June and run all the way into October.”

For that we can thank La Nina, which has provided lots of wind but also unseasonably cool water. Albacore and bluefin prefer cooler water than yellowfin tuna and the fishing grounds--currently 55-80 miles southwest of San Diego--have ranged from 62 to the current 66 to 68 degrees, only slightly warmer than ideal conditions.

“Everybody has been [griping] about the weather, but that’s what’s keeping all the albacore and bluefin around,” says Steve Crooke, a Department of Fish and Game biologist and keeper of dock totals.

Crooke also is an avid angler. He went fishing Monday aboard the Cortez out of Seaforth Landing in San Diego and caught his limit of 18- to 25-pound albacore, and added a bonus catch of three bluefin.

As is usually the case during the fall, the ocean was flat and the wind light, and during one lasting bite there were fish crashing the surface in every direction for 200 yards.

Crooke says it probably will take two winter storms to drive the tuna away, but predicts that the people will stop biting before the albacore do.

He may be right. San Diego’s three most popular landings--Fisherman’s, H&M; and Point Loma--are sending out a combined average of nine boats a day, compared to 25 or 30 before Labor Day. Passenger loads have been averaging only 15 to 20 per vessel.

“Yes, we’re already feeling the impact of that,” Morris says. “But let’s not be wrapping things up just yet.”

Through Wednesday, the three landings had logged an albacore count of 116,118, compared to 60,028 for all of last year. But last year also produced 48,114 yellowfin, compared to 31 so far this year.

BAJA BEAT

Those venturing beyond Ensenada will be pleased to learn that immigration officials have pulled out of the Maneadero checkpoint on Mexico 1 south of Ensenada, largely because of complaints from tourists who have encountered everything from long lines to being sent back to town to complete their travel documents.

Some might be even happier to learn that you no longer have to pay the new 150-peso tourist fee if you’re traveling to San Quintin and are staying less than 72 hours.

The confusion began when Mexico implemented the tourist fee on July 1, required of anyone traveling beyond Ensenada or staying anywhere in Baja for more than 72 hours. The travel document is good for 180 days.

Tourists were asked to complete forms at an immigration office at the border, then find a bank and pay the fee and have their documents stamped at some point before returning home. Bank tellers weren’t sure what to do with the documents, immigration officers weren’t sure how to deal with those who didn’t have them, tourists were confused by the manner in which they were asked to obtain them and business owners who rely on tourists complained they were losing customers.

Three months have passed and little has changed, other than the elimination of the Maneadero checkpoint--there’s still one 300 miles south at Guerrero Negro--and the inclusion of San Quintin as a priority tourism zone within the Ensenada municipality.

These are significant first steps, says Juan Tintos, secretary of tourism for Baja California, predicting that more changes will be coming after Jan. 1.

Based on recent meetings with government officials in Mexico City, Tintos envisions a reduction of the fee for land-based tourists from 150 pesos--about $16--to between 32 and 50 pesos, and says the fee might be eliminated altogether.

Under one proposal to be submitted to the Mexican Congress this month, air travelers, who make up 88% of Mexico’s tourists, would still be required to pay the 150 pesos and thus Mexico still would realize substantial revenue gains it says it needs to increase tourism promotions.

“I can honestly tell you that I’m very surprised by the openness with which our concerns are being received,” Tintos says.

The most substantial concession he hopes to gain, assuming Mexico does not eliminate the fee for those entering Baja by land, is making the travel documents available north of the border through Baja travel clubs and specialized travel agencies, such as the Automobile Club of Southern California.

Most of the complaints piling up in Tintos’ office have to do with the time-consuming and cumbersome manner for obtaining their documents.

“Almost all of them say they would rather do the paperwork in the U.S.,” he said during an interview Thursday morning. “We have a lot of caravans and can you see looking for a bank and parking spaces for 35 motor homes filled with snowbirds from Utah?

“People say the process is taking anywhere from two to three hours to complete. I mean, today is payday, so if you go into a bank between 9 and 10 you’ll have at least 25 people ahead of you.”

FISHY BUSINESS

Chances are, you won’t be catching as many rockfish or lingcod next year. Lingcod and bocaccio (also called salmon grouper, a common catch on deep-water party boats) and Pacific Ocean perch (found north of California) were recently federally listed as “overfished” and state and federal agencies are meeting to determine what should be done to allow stocks to rebuild.

Because bocaccio bloat and die soon after being pulled to the surface, a likely scenario would be a ban on fishing for rock cod, rockfish and lingcod in January and February south of Point Conception. Those are the two most productive months for the recreational fleets.

North of Point Conception to the Canadian border, restrictions probably will be more severe.

Commercial fishermen, especially trawlers, also will feel the sting as they face the likelihood of severe gear restrictions and seasonal closures.

Two other popular sport species, canary rockfish and cow cod, are close to being declared overfished and measures--reduced bag limits, increased size limits and gear restrictions--are probably in store.

The California Fish and Game Commission will conduct a public meeting on the issue in Sacramento on Oct. 20. It will then adopt tentative regulations, which will be considered by the Pacific Fishery Management Council in November, when that agency will adopt a management plan.

“The problem we’ll face is that [fishermen and landing operators] will disagree with the biologists and say that there are plenty of fish,” said Bob Fletcher, president of the Sportfishing Assn. of California and a member of the federal council. “The problem is, once these fish are formally declared overfished, by law, measures must be put in place to replenish them.”

Most measures will remain in place at least 10 years.

SHORT CASTS

* The Boat Owners Assn. of the United States says Hurricane Floyd caused $100 million in damage to 20,000-25,000 boats in the Bahamas and along the East Coast. “Things were [especially] brutal in the Bahamas--there was just no place to hide,” said Carroll Robertson, vice president of claims for Boat/U.S. Marine Insurance.

* The inaugural Southern California Paddlefest will be held Saturday and Sunday, beginning at 8 a.m., at Irvine Lake in Silverado. Kayak and canoe demonstrations and programs, product demos and outfitter booths are on tap. Details: (800) 755-5228.

* Reservations for waterfowl hunting on San Diego’s city lakes will be taken Saturday beginning at 7:30 a.m. below the San Vicente Lake dam. The season begins Oct. 16 except at Sutherland, which opens for hunting Oct. 21. Details: (619) 668-2050.

WINDING UP

Irvine’s Ron Johnson, captain of the Showdown, complained that by inadvertently transposing two numbers on the keyboard last week, I “cheated” him, his crew and Fallbrook angler Reed Miller out of 63 pounds, “which makes a big difference to us fishermen.” Miller’s swordfish, caught during an offshore battle that lasted 11 1/2 hours, weighed 370 pounds, not 307.

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FISH REPORT, PAGE 14