GET YOUR POLE OFF THAT CABEZON! BAN ON IT IN CALIFORNIA AFTER EXCEEDING CATCH QUOTA.

Byline: Bill Becher Special to the Daily News

The California Department of Fish and Game stopped recreational fishing for cabezon on July 29 for the remainder of 2002 after anglers' estimated catch exceeded this year's quota. The commercial fishery for cabezon has already closed.

Carrie Wilson, a marine biologist with the DFG, said that cabezon have been caught in greater numbers than was expected, possibly because there was more fishing pressure than predicted. The DFG had hoped minimum-size limits and season closures would hold annual landings to the 84,300 pounds of cabezon allocated to sport anglers this year.

Wilson said fishing for cabezon is prohibited until the end of the year at all depths and all methods of take, including shore fishing or diving.

Cabezon are often taken by sport divers. They represent a small portion of boat anglers' catch. The commercial catch of cabezon increased in the 1990s with the marketing of live fish to California's Asian restaurants. Annual party-boat landing of cabezon has declined from more than 16,000 fish in the 1950s to less than 3,000 in 1999, according to DFG data.

Southern California's sport anglers are already faced with substantial closures of ground-fish habitat to protect bocaccio and other rockfish.

``It's another regulation based on hearsay, not science,'' Captain Joe Villareal of Mirage Sportfishing in Port Hueneme said.

Villareal said the cabezon closure will have no effect on his operations, as he does not target cabezon. But other regulatory changes to protect rockfish will hurt those who fish Catalina or the Santa Monica Bay, he said.

The California Fish and Game Commission will hear public comments on management options for the state's nearshore fishery at its meeting today in San Luis Obispo.

The Nearshore Fishery Management Plan will direct management of 19 finfish species, including 13 species of rockfish found throughout California's nearshore ocean waters. The nearshore plan was developed in accordance with the Marine Life Management Act passed by the California legislature in 1998.

Proposed options include establishing annual catch limits and allocating fish between recreational and commercial users, as well as a controversial program of marine protected areas to help replenish nearshore stocks. A restricted access program for the state's commercial fishery to reduce fishing capacity and a regional management approach is also proposed.

More information about the plan is available at www.dfg.ca.gov/mrd/nfmp.

Final public comments will be heard at the commission's adoption hearing, scheduled for August 30 in Oakland.