Reduction in bag limit the latest development in odd 2005 season.

Byline: INSIDE THE OUTDOORS By Mike Stahlberg The Register-Guard

Already struggling with the effects of a poor ocean salmon season, Oregon's coastal sport-fishing fleet suffered another setback last week.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife imposed a sharp reduction in the daily bag limit for marine sport fish, more commonly known as "bottomfish." The category includes rockfish, greenling, flounder, sole and cabezon. (Lingcod have a separate limit, which remains two per day).

On Saturday, what had been an eight-per-day limit on bottomfish became a five-per-day limit.

As recently as 1999, the rockfish limit was 15 per day.

It's become apparent in recent years that these species are badly overfished. So federal and state harvest caps were imposed.

Last week's bag limit adjustment was made to ensure that sport bottomfishing can continue through the remainder of the season.

Anglers were on pace to exceed the harvest quota on groundfish, state fishery managers said.

And poor salmon fishing may have been a factor in that.

"Decreased ocean salmon harvest, combined with outstanding fishing for groundfish this year, appears to be driving a shift in fishing effort to groundfish," said Patty Burke, manager of ODFW's Marine Resources Program, while announcing the five-fish limit.

"We want to ensure angling opportunities along the coast through the rest of the season without exceeding federal and state harvest caps."

Last year, the sport groundfish season had to be closed just before Labor Day because anglers reached the 342 metric-ton federal harvest limit on black rockfish.

That marked the first time in history that the sport groundfish season closed early in Oregon.

This year, the maximum allowable harvest for black rockfish is slightly lower - 332 metric tons.

A five-fish bag limit will do more than reduce the number of fish an angler can bring home. It will also lead to a reduction in the number of anglers seeking such fish.

A $65 fishing trip becomes a tougher sell when the charter office can offer a chance to bring home only seven fish (five groundfish and two lingcod) instead of 10.

While the ODFW's Sportfish Advisory Committee - comprised of representatives of anglers, charter boat operators, ports and fishery experts - agreed on the need for a bag-limit change, there was debate over the magnitude of the cutback.

Some advisers argued a limit of six fish would be enough to keep the harvest under the quota. But the ODFW decided to play it safe.

"The conservation decision of a five-fish bag limit best assures that anglers will be able to enjoy this opportunity through the rest of the season," Burke said.

She said the agency will continue to monitor the fishery closely, and may increase the bag limit later this year if it can be done within the federal and state harvest caps.

Meanwhile, coho salmon fishing continues to be downright dismal.

Through Sunday, anglers had harvested only 3,277 coho out of ports from Brookings north to Garibaldi. That's 8.2 percent of the 40,000-fish harvest quota. With the season ending July 31, it's likely 2005 will establish a new record for futility.

Anglers have done somewhat better on chinook, taking 9,446 of that species and helping boost the overall catch rate for the season to 0.54 fish per rod. Where did all the hatchery coho go? Nobody knows.

Speaking of surprisingly low salmon returns, the Willamette spring chinook run is winding down, and the final count there will be about half what was predicted.

ODFW biologists had expected 116,900 chinook bound for the Willamette to enter the Columbia River this spring. Only 55,000 to 60,000 spring chinook showed up. Of those, 34,837 had passed over Willamette Falls as of July 8.

The dramatic decline in salmon numbers is unexpected and unexplained, aside from that catch-all phrase "ocean conditions," science-speak for "we don't know."

Mike Stahlberg can be reached at [e-mail].