Fishery Resources

Rockfishes are the most diverse group of fishes living in the Sanctuary. photo Kip Evans for MBNMS

About 200 species are typically caught in commercial and recreational fisheries in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. From 1981 to 2000 reported commercial catches increased for about 10 percent of the approximately 90 species most frequently harvested in this region. Catches declined for about 30 percent of the frequently harvested species. Catch rates and thus population status of other species were either stable, highly variable, or unknown.

Invertebrate species most frequently harvested commercially include spot prawn, pink shrimp, Dungeness crab, rock crab, and market squid. These species have short life spans, their populations are greatly affected by environmental change, and higher harvests usually reflect higher population levels. Harvests of spot prawn and Dungeness crab increased from 1981 to 2001. Catches of rock crab increased from 1981 to 1993 but then decreased. Pink shrimp populations declined throughout much of the late 1980s, increased from 1994 to 1995, then decreased again in the late 1990s. The market squid population was low during the El Niño years of 1983–84, reached record levels in 1994 to 1996, then declined dramatically with the onset of the 1997-98 El Niño. In 2001 the market squid population in Monterey Bay showed strong signs of recovery.

Chinook salmon is the most common anadromous species caught in the Sanctuary. Reported catches of chinook salmon have been high in the last few years. Scientific stock assessments indicate that the fall run chinook salmon of the Sacramento River is in good shape, but that populations of coho salmon and winter and spring run chinook salmon are depressed. Steelhead populations are also extremely depressed in this area, due primarily to degraded stream habitats. There are escalating efforts to improve salmon and steelhead habitats in central California. The increased number of spawning winter-run salmon in the past few years indicates that improving river flows and habitats may play a large role in successfully rebuilding salmon and steelhead populations.

Abundances of most pelagic species are greatly determined by large-scale environmental phenomena. Northern anchovy and Pacific sardine are the predominant nearshore pelagic fishes caught in the Sanctuary. Anchovy spawning biomass in central California declined after 1985 but experienced a substantial increase in the late 1990s. Pacific sardine populations are also increasing rapidly throughout their range after nearly disappearing from the region in the 1950s. The population of Pacific albacore, another common pelagic species, is currently thought to be stable or increasing.

Monterey Harbor is home to many fishing vessels. photo Brad Damitz for MBNMS

Migratory sablefish and Pacific hake are heavily fished in California waters. Sablefish catches in the Sanctuary have been decreasing since 1980, due to increased regulations and low recruitment. Seasonally abundant Pacific hake catches were high off central California throughout most of the 1980s.

Rockfishes are the most diverse group of fishes living in Sanctuary waters. Rockfish species comprise 98 percent of the total commercial catch from deep-water rocky habitats in the Sanctuary. In the recreational fishery, eight of the ten most abundant species in the recreational commercial passenger fishing vessel (CPFV) fishery are deep-water rockfishes.

Catches of deep-water rockfishes have declined dramatically in the last twenty years, due to stock depletions and stricter fishery regulations. In 1996 the U.S. Congress enacted the Sustainable Fisheries Act, which reauthorized and amended the Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976. The new legislation strengthened the requirement of federal fishery managers to prevent overfishing, rebuild depleted stocks, reduce bycatch, and protect fish habitat. The result of this new legislation has been a dramatic decrease in catch quotas for many species and an increase in the number of scientific stock assessments for commercially harvested fish species.

Stock assessments for chilipepper and shortbelly rockfishes indicate stable or increasing trends in abundance, while stock assessments published for bank, bocaccio, yellowtail, canary, and widow rockfishes show decreasing trends in abundance on the U.S. West Coast. Most of these deep-water rockfishes are slow growing, long-lived, and have experienced excessively high exploitation rates. Managers are concerned about the capability of some of these species to recover from high harvest rates, especially because some are prone to long periods of failed recruitment. There is some evidence from the commercial and recreational fisheries, however, that oceanographic conditions in the past few years resulted in improved recruitment of some species, such as bocaccio. More information is needed for all species in order to estimate stock size adequately for management purposes. This is especially important because stock assessments are usually conducted over large geographic scales.

One particularly notable example of high bycatch within the Sanctuary is the commercial set gillnet fishery. Set gillnets have been an effective way to catch California halibut, but they have also contributed to mortality of sea birds, harbor porpoise, and sea otters. From 1991 to 2000 an estimated 16,000 common murres and 450 harbor porpoise accidentally died in the set gillnet fishery. Evidence of continued high bycatch of birds prompted the California Department of Fish and Game in late 2000 to enact a series of emergency closures to move the set gillnet fishery to waters deeper than sixty fathoms in central California. There is a new regulation being proposed for permanent adoption that will restrict gill or trammel nets to ocean waters that are sixty fathoms or greater in depth at mean lower low water from Point Reyes to Point Arguello, essentially closing down the California halibut set gillnet fishery in this area.

Note the large increase in landings at Moss Landing that is due to increased abundances of sardines.

The gradual decline in the number of vessels fishing matches the trend in reduced catches of many species due to declining stocks of fish and increased regulations.

Surfperches represent a diverse group of nearshore fishes in Sanctuary waters. Historical catch data show that surfperch populations have declined, due to a number of factors including environmental variation, lower production caused by smaller fish, habitat degradation, and increased fishing pressure. In contrast, landing data and stock assessments suggest that populations of many species of flatfishes are robust and could withstand increased levels of harvest.

The most rapidly developing fishery to emerge in recent years is the nearshore live fish fishery. In this fishery, small boats, skiffs, kayaks, and even surfboards are used to set baited hooks or traps in water less than 100 feet deep. Captured fish are held in aerated containers and transported live directly to seafood markets and restaurants locally and globally. The high demand for live fish has created a market with prices well above that of traditional commercial fisheries, thus increasing the value of catches and attracting more people to enter the fishery. The fishery began in southern California. In the early 1990s it expanded to central California, and in 1995 this region recorded the highest catches in California. The fishery has also moved from a limited target fishery to one that currently includes almost 100 species. Sheephead, cabezon, lingcod, greenlings, and nearshore rockfishes remain the most targeted species in the fishery.

Unfortunately, the life histories of many of the species caught in the live fish fishery are poorly understood. For the few species with dependable life history information available, their sedentary nature, slow growth, and late age of maturity increase their vulnerability to high fishing pressure. Preliminary studies have shown an overall decline in the average size, weight, and catch rate of cabezon and some rockfishes in the sport fishery since the late 1980s, suggesting stressed populations.

Depleted fish populations result in strict fishery regulations. For example, lingcod and some rockfish species have been overfished to the point that quotas are too small to allow a year-round fishery. In the past few years commercial and recreational fisheries for these species have been closed for several months at a time.

Declines in species abundance, closed fisheries, and resulting reduced income to coastal communities led to changes in fishery management in California. In 1999 the Marine Life Management Act (MLMA) was signed into California law, redefining the state’s marine living resource policy. The MLMA represents a notable change in state resource management responsibilities by delegating the authority for managing commercial fisheries from the State Legislature to the California Fish and Game Commission and the California Department of Fish and Game. The primary goal of the Act is to establish sustainable fisheries through the restoration and conservation of fisheries and ecosystems—including non-target species and habitats—while also maintaining healthy, growing commercial and recreational fisheries.

Richard Starr(1), Jason Cope(2), and Lisa Kerr(2)
(1)University of California Sea Grant Extension Program
(2)Moss Landing Marine Laboratories