COOLER WATERS DON'T CHILL FISH COUNTS.Byline: Daily News and Wire Services While its cold-shouldered sister, La Nina La Niña n. A cooling of the ocean surface off the western coast of South America, occurring periodically every 4 to 12 years and affecting Pacific and other weather patterns. , has largely made El Nino a forgotten phenomenon, ocean anglers had a banner year targeting exotic sport fish just the same. This year's warm water wasn't nearly as deep or dense as in 1997 - when El Nino was at full strength - but the tepid tep·id adj. 1. Moderately warm; lukewarm. 2. Lacking in emotional warmth or enthusiasm; halfhearted: "the tepid conservatism of the fifties" Irving Howe. temperatures historically span a two-year cycle. That fact was reflected in the counts of sport-caught exotics; 1998 could yield top-five tallies for three species - bluefin tuna, yellowfin tuna and yellowtail. As of mid-December, 14,000 bluefin were boated, which should be good enough for second best among annual counts since record-keeping began, said Steve Crooke, senior marine biologist marine biologist specialist in the biology of marine life. for the Department of Fish and Game in Long Beach. Tops was 34,187 in 1956. The 1997 total by mid-December was 6,327. With a count of 65,900, this year's yellowfin harvest could place as high as fourth on the all-time list. Best was 116,298 in 1983; second was 1997's 89,097. Some 247,800 yellowtail also were taken, which means it will rank as the fourth or fifth best year for mossbacks. The record was established in 1959 at 457,350. That total may have been eclipsed by last year's bumper crop In agriculture, a bumper crop refers to a particularly good harvest yielded for a particular crop. Example: "With all the rain we've had over the last few months, we are expecting a bumper crop this year. of forktails, though confirmation was not immediately available. Breaking a top-10 mark was the catch of 120,300 albacore albacore: see tuna. albacore Large oceanic tuna (Thunnus alalunga) that is noted for its fine flesh. The streamlined bodies of these voracious predators are adapted to fast and continuous swimming. , which will be seven or eight notches below the 229,341 hooked in 1962. The 1997 total through mid-December was 60,046. The year's biggest surprise (read: disappointment) was the low numbers of dorado taken. Only 4,800 were reported, good for just 15th on the species' all-time list. The high mark was set in 1990 with 31,540; last year through this period anglers had 29,471 dodos. Note that Crooke bases his statistics on newspaper fish counts, since the DFG's own logs are usually three months behind at any given time. But newspapers don't record the catches from multiday trips that are tallied by the DFG DFG Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Council) DFG Department of Fish and Game DFG District Factor Group DFG Data Flow Graph DFG Difference Frequency Generation DFG Diode Function Generator DFG Dog Faced Gremlin , so the 1998 fish counts listed here are 10 percent to 20 percent lower than the official year-end results will reflect come March. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Despite cooler ocean waters, 1998's crop of exotic game fish produced some top counts, including tallies of yellowtail, boated by Ojai's Dick Barnett Richard "Dick" Barnett (born October 2, 1936 in Gary, Indiana) is a former pro basketball player. He spent 14 seasons in the NBA (1959-74), but is mostly known for his 9 seasons with the New York Knicks. . Brett Pauly/Daily News |
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