ROCKFISHERS SOON TO TAKE BIG HIT; MAJOR RESTRICTIONS WILL CURTAIL RECREATIONAL ANGLING.

Byline: Brett Pauly Outdoors Editor

Here we go again. Another proposal to ban recreational rockfishing along the Southern California coast. This one, however, has some very real teeth and a will-get-done-immediately attitude.

It's all very complicated, but essentially the state is striving to closely match significant new angling restrictions proposed by national fishery managers. Included in the language is a moratorium on all rockfishing in January and February - the very heart of the rockfishing season - and a reduction in bag limits during the remainder of the year. The move is part of a West Coast-wide effort to restore depleted stocks of rockfish and other related fish.

But unlike a separate open-ended plan by the state government to iron out better definitions for marine protected areas - which may lead to a ban of commercial harvesting and sport-fishing along portions of the northernmost Channel Islands - the federal blueprint to manifest statewide changes in fishing regulations has a date it will go into effect: Jan. 1. The state Fish and Game Commission - the agency responsible for such matters in California - is largely on board; apparently all that is left to do is cross the Ts and dot the Is.

``Yes, these are the options we are considering,'' said Bob Treanor, executive director of the Fish and Game Commission's staff. ``I guess that is the nature of the process. We have a wide range of suggestions, recommendations, alternatives to consider; you narrow it down based on recommendations from the department (of Fish and Game) and the public.''

The Fish and Game Commission meets Friday beginning at 8:30 a.m. at Hubbs-Sea World Research Institution at 2595 Ingraham St. in San Diego - for information, call the commission office at [phone] - to hear public comment, yet little change is expected to come of it. The commission has set Dec. 3 at its next meeting in Sacramento as the date to adopt the policy.

Meanwhile, also on Friday, the Pacific Fishery Management Council - the Portland, Ore.-based federal arm of this process - is expected to hear its own regulation proposals next week. If all goes according to plan, if the state's propositions are on the same page as that of the feds or vice versa, new recreational-rockfishing restrictions will be on the books Jan. 1.

In much of Southern California, saltwater angling in winter is defined by rockfishing. It will have to be redefined. Among considerations other than the two-month rockfishing moratorium:

Reducing the general rockfish bag limit from 15 to 10 or 12.

Reducing the cow rockfish (cowcod) limit from 10 to zero or one, with a boat limit of five cowcod.

Reducing the canary rockfish limit from 10 to two or three.

Reducing the bocaccio limit from three to two.

Limiting rockfish or lingcod hooks to three per line instead of an unlimited number of hooks.

``There is science that says we have a problem, we have to do something,'' Treanor explained. ``The commission knows that the sportfishing hasn't created the problem, but everybody has got to share in the pain of rebuilding the resources. We are not just focusing on sportfishermen; commercial anglers also are being targeted. Commercials take the vast majority of the fish.''

Treanor said it is thought that 85 percent of rockfish takes are by commercial endeavors. Yet such rockfishing limitations not only impact the recreational angler, but also those employed in the sport-fishing industry. And the impending regulations will significantly change the atmosphere at oceanside landings that depend on wintertime rockfishing for survival.

``I think that definitely some measures need to be taken to protect rockfish,'' said Fred Benko of Santa Barbara, skipper of the Condor out of Santa Barbara's Sea Landing. ``I hate to see the lion's share of the mitigation measures fall on the shoulders of the recreational fishermen, though. The current proposal is to drop by either a third or a half of our catch limit and to shut fishing down altogether for a couple of months, January and February, which (fishery officials) surmise are the worst weather months of the year when actually those of us who fish the area know January and February are a couple of the best-weather months of the year.

``I think it will be very tough on the majority of the charter fleet, especially in the northern part of this range, say from Oxnard, Ventura, Santa Barbara and Morro Bay, because rockfish is the bread-and-butter catch. It's pretty hard to charge somebody $60, $70, and, in our case, $80 to go fishing when they can only catch a seven-fish bag limit.''

``By taking (those in the charter fleet) off the water, they are going to have to find some way to earn a living for a couple of months and many of the charter operators, especially the small-boat fleet, are very close to the edge all the time,'' said Benko, whose situation may not be as bleak, since in winter months he complements his recreational rockfishing business with whale-watching tours. ``This has always been a lifestyle profession and not a way for anyone to make great quantities of money. So it has a real serious deleterious effect.''

Treanor takes exception at the notion that only recreational anglers are being impacting by any new rockfishing restrictions.

``That is a misconception that is out there,'' he said. ``Commercial anglers are taking some very large hits. The Pacific Fishery Management Council is dealing with the offshore trawlers.''

And the inshore commercial fisherman will be dealt with by the state, though that process is in the works. The state Marine Life Management Act that went into effect this year gives the state Fish and Game Commission authority over nearshore commercial-fishing regulations. ``But,'' Treanor said, ``development of the management plan is two years off, so the department (of Fish and Game) is looking at interim management recommendations because we need to address this action.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

PHOTO (1 -- color) Fishery managers are considering a moratorium on sport-angling for rockfish, such as this cowcod taken by Bob Selvin of Los Angeles.

(2 -- color) Skippers, crew and sportfishermen who target rockfish in January and February may soon be out of luck.

Brett Pauly/Staff Photographer