|
It's a bit of an apples to oranges thing to compare atlantic cod to sand and calico bass. There is no commercial bass fishery in CA. Only party boat landings record numbers of fish landed (no size, age, or sex data). And the landing's numbers are occationally suspect. Private boaters' part in the fishery is difficult to assess. The spotty creel samples taken at the launch ramps can not give an acurate account of fish taken. You factor in the increase in C&R and the view gets even cloudier. 4 anglers bass fishing for 8 hours with no fish landed looks statisticly like 32 hours of fishing effort for 0 fish. That looks like a serious decline in fish stocks. Except they went to San Clemente Island and caught and released 50 calico bass each. They also mention entrapment in power plant intakes. This is real data of fish killed, but only for fish large enough to get caught in screens or traps. Larval fish passing through the power plant's cooling systems are extreamly difficult to quantify. Landings of sport fish are also subject to conditions way out side of fisheries data. When gas was $5.00 a gallon several summers ago it might have made the data look like catches were down when in accuallity there was simply less fishing pressure on the stocks for that time period. OK, I've gone on enough but these are a few things that can complicate studies of this type. Mike
|