[ODFW-News] Sport groundfish fishery to close

[ODFW News]

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife 	
For more information call 800-720-6339 (ODFW) or 541-867-0300, Ext.
277	
Internet: www.dfw.state.or.us  


For immediate release	Monday, August 30, 2004

Sport groundfish fishery to close

NEWPORT - The sport fishery for major groundfish species will close in
all saltwater areas (including fishing from shore, in estuaries and the
ocean) starting Friday, Sept. 3, 2004, much earlier than originally
expected.

This is the first year the sport rockfish fishery will not be open the
entire year.

This closure includes all rockfishes, lingcod and greenling. Fishing
for cabezon closed in August. Retention of these species is prohibited
by all methods of take.

"Landing data for the saltwater sport fishery show that we will meet
our limit for the sport harvest of black rockfish and lingcod by the end
of this week," said Don Bodenmiller, project leader for marine
recreational groundfish fisheries for the Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife.

The decision came after ODFW met informally with representatives of the
sport and charter fishing fleet in an emergency meeting Monday, Aug. 30,
in Newport. Others along the coast joined in the discussion through a
conference call.

"A number of options were discussed for extending the fishery or
opening up other sport-fishing opportunities," said Patty Burke, manager
of ODFW's Marine Resources Program, "but because of concerns about the
mortality of released fish, safety and Oregon State Police enforcement
considerations we had to rule out some suggested options. We are still
looking into expanding salmon and halibut opportunities where quota
remains, if rules allow."

While the commercial nearshore groundfish fishery remains open, the
trip limit of black rockfish was cut in half for that fishery in July to
prevent an early closure. Other commercial fisheries are not affected by
this action.

"We are acutely aware of the hardship and disappointment to sport
fishers by closing groundfish before Labor Day," Burke said. "We also
know that this hurts our coastal economy, but several factors caused us
to reach our catch limits early this year."

Some of the reasons leading to the early closure include limiting the
fishery to inside the 40-fathom line from June to September to reduce
bycatch of overfished species. "This forced more effort nearshore and on
rocky reefs," Burke said.

"The good ocean conditions and mild weather we had early in the spring
resulted in more fishing trips," Bodenmiller said, "and groundfish
angler trips through July 31 were 15 percent above last year at that
time. The catch per angler and the size of black rockfish is also higher
than last year. All of these factors resulted in the catch coming in
much faster than last year."

The 2004 Oregon sport catch cap is 342 metric tons for black rockfish
and 110 metric tons for lingcod. By Aug. 29 the landings for black
rockfish were 334 metric tons and more than 108 metric tons for lingcod.
Approximately 22 metric tons of black rockfish were harvested each week
in August.

"This is only the second year the fisheries managers have used harvest
caps to limit the take of black rockfish, cabezon, greenling and other
nearshore groundfish," Burke said. "Federally adopted limits for
lingcod, canary rockfish, and yelloweye rockfish, also taken in
recreational fisheries, have been in place for several years. For 2004,
retention of canary rockfish and yelloweye rockfish have been prohibited
all year."

Other recreational saltwater fishing opportunities remain open. These
include: flounder, sole, sand dabs, perch, herring, anchovy, smelt,
sardine, striped bass and offshore pelagic species. Salmon continues to
be an active sport fishery and some limited seasons are open for
halibut.

The sport groundfish fishery scheduled to open outside the 40-fathom
line on Oct. 1 will not be open for lingcod, cabezon, black rockfish,
canary rockfish, yelloweye rockfish and greenling, but it may open for
other groundfish, such as yellowtail rockfish, provided impacts on
overfished species (canary, yelloweye and widow rockfish species) allow
for additional fishing at that time.

###