I will present some information on commercial overfishing and successful restoration programs. I hope to get you concerned enough to send an EMAIL, write a letter to the FGC, or actually show up at a hearing to protect the fishery we enjoy for future generations.

The effects of commercial overfishing are resonating throughout the planet's marine ecosystems. The decline in squid populations off the East Coast shows in the emaciated fish caught during the summer. The decline in groundfish stocks has been connected to reduced plankton stocks which feed off their spawn in the Grand Banks, leading to a decline in smaller feed/bait fish. Large declines in Alaskan fish stocks, such as sablefish, turbot and Pollock, correspond to population declines of up to 90% for seal and otter, in addition to drastic reductions of bird populations.

Marquis fisheries being commercially overfished and threatened include:

• Newfoundland Grand Banks...groundfish and cod
• Hawaii...onaga and other rockfish
• Australia...orange roughy
• Entire Antarctic... Toothfish (Chilean sea bass)
• North Sea...The common skate has become extinct in the North Sea and European environmental ministers are so alarmed that other species, such as cod, herring and whiting, will follow that they have agreed that hundreds of square miles should be closed to fishing.
• Falkland Islands... illex squid
• Alaska... turbot, Sablefish (black cod), Pacific Ocean perch, thornyhead rockfish, pollock

In addition to depletion of the fisheries, bycatch, the discarded unwanted fish caught in the nets, amounts to additional millions of tons. The bycatch of king salmon in the Gulf of Alaska exceeds the number and poundage of sport-caught fish in the Western States and British Columbia! Damage to the marine habitat by trawl nets will take hundreds of years to recover in coral areas and rocky habitat, such as off the California coast, is being permanently destroyed.

Causes of this overfishing are: 1) population increases; 2) governmental creation of fisheries, such as roughy in Australia, before realizing how long it takes the fish to reproduce; 3) years of governmental subsidization of the commercial fleets; 4) illegal catch; 5) poor enforcement of regulations; 6)management decisions made for political rather than scientific reasons.

The overfishing of the California Nearshore came about as a direct result of the development of the live fishery, which was created with the help of the DFG in the mid 90's. The gear used is a trap, similar to a lobster trap, and a stick, a small piece of plastic pipe with 5 baited hooks, a weight and float. The fish sold live bring premium market value.

The investment in equipment for the type of gear is extremely low. Many of the commercial live fishers operate out of a skiff and a pick-up. The devices are placed as close as five yards apart. The high efficiency of the gear allows areas to be fished out in a couple of days.

Many of the species in the California Nearshore have life-history characteristics that make them vulnerable to overfishing. These characteristics include long lives, late maturation and low reproductive capacity. The species involved are generally non-migratory. "The combination of less fish and smaller fish spells trouble for future generations of bottomfish. There are now many fewer females producing eggs and larvae for the next generation, and the number of eggs being produced by smaller females is drastically less than for the large females that were once common. The result of this double blow to reproduction is that egg production by copper rockfish in the 1990s was only about 20% of that measured in the late 1970s (Palsson 1998). Thus, not only have adult fish been depleted, but their ability to replenish future generations of fish is also threatened," according to Skagit County Marine Resources Committee.

The combination of efficient gear, reproductive characteristics and migration patterns have resulted in the serial depletion of the fishery along the majority of the California coastline south of Cape Mendocino.

The Commission has responded by reducing sportfishing, which has been proven sustainable - or else there would be no fish left for the explosion of the live fish trade.

As over half the commercial catch goes unreported by DFG's own admission, the net result has been no reduction in the commercial take. Because sport anglers only fished two months last year, they did not catch their allotment. Last year's uncaught sport fish allotment was then arbitrarily given to the commercial fishermen by DFG without consulting the Commission. The commercial fleet neared that allotment in early summer so DFG extended their season by three months. This resulted in a REPORTED commercial catch of at least 2 times the allotment.

To make matters worse, DFG is literally falling apart on the enforcement front. Last year 45 warden positions went unfilled largely due to low pay and because of the State's current financial condition, the DFG is now under a hiring freeze while the new catamarans brought into service over the last couple of years are stuck in harbor dealing with 911 security responsibilities.

By the time the provisions of the MLMA are put in place there won't be a fishery to talk about! The delay continues while the commercial fleet systematically destroys the ecosystem. The California Fish and Game Code, part of the State's constitution, mandates a satisfying recreational fishery be in existence before a commercial fishery is allowed to fish the excess.

"People who manage ocean fisheries take the approach that, absent rock-solid evidence of fishery decline, the fishery is presumed to be in the pink of health. Such an assumption is unwarranted, of course, but hardly unexpected. With the eight fishery management councils in the United States being dominated by commercial fishing interests, exploitation of fish stocks is invariably favored over conservation." c) 1995 Environment Hawaii, Inc. Volume 6 Number 5 (November 1995)

This is obviously the prevalent attitude of those making policy decisions at CDFG. What else could explain the pie in the sky solutions being offered with provisions in violation of the State Constitution?

If brought into law, the legal battles resulting would render CDFG impotent, allowing the commercials to "finish the job" while the suits wind their way through the courts.

Restoring a Fishery: The Puget Sound bottomfish populations were decimated in about 10 years initially with State government approval. Commercial Ling Cod catches dropped from 400,000 pounds to a few thousand pounds. The current sport limit is one fish. Commercial fishing for bottomfish ended with the collapse of the fishery. Commercial fishing for other species where bottomfish are bycatch has been halted.

A management plan was enacted in 1998 with provision that:

"Fisheries shall only be allowed when there is a sufficient number of spawning fish to assure a healthy population (critical threshold). A precautionary approach shall be used to assure that strategies prevent overfishing below a critical threshold..."

In addition, the Groundfish Management Plan states that:

"Mixed fisheries shall be managed on a weak stock basis whereby the fishery is limited by the strength of the weakest stock."

The Results: Two Marine Protected Areas have been established long enough to give us an example of how long restoration might take. The Edmonds Underwater Park Created in 1970 has up to 10 times the concentration of fish than nearby fished areas and the Shady Cove MPA established in 1990 showed fish populations doubling in 7 years. The fish of both MPAs are substantially larger than found in nearby unprotected areas. (Palsson and others 1997, 1998).

This data would suggest that the damage done to the California Nearshore by the commercial live fishery will take at least 20 years to recover.

What needs to be done in California immediately:

• The California Fish and Game Commission needs to adopt a precautionary management approach for the nearshore.
• Commercial fin fishing in the nearshore must stop.
• Ongoing research programs for the fishery need to be established.

If timely action is taken, restoration of the California Nearshore to a healthy fishery is possible. This will only happen if the Commission exhibits the courage to make choices for the long term health of our resources rather then bending to the political wind at the moment.

It is apparent that the commercial fishery, as it is now operating, is unsustainable and it should not be allowed to displace ANY of the recreational opportunity in the nearshore.

Please send an EMAIL to Robert Treanor (Executive Director fo the Fish and Game Commission)at: fgc@dfg.ca.gov and Governor Gray Davis, governor@governor.ca.gov asking for closure of rock cod fishing inside three miles on the order of the "Washington Model" in the upcoming Nearshore Management Plan.