Posted by Brad on August 27, 2002 at 15:58:41:
In Reply to: interesting data posted by finfan on August 27, 2002 at 13:29:54:
You criticize my suppositions, yet fail/refuse to answer any of my (admittedly) elementary questuons....
I will try to give you the courtesy of replying to your remarks and assumptions even though your attitude isn't worthy of a serious response. Pay attention, this is how it's done...
1st paragraph) You state that the catches are up in 02' from 01'. I have made repeated references to particular locations such as Catalina and Anacappa. Your assertions about the increase catch does not address those areas that i mentioned. I doubt very much if you have any documented catch data from heavily fished areas that will support your contention. You don't know where those fish were caught, nor do you know the effort ratio...
#2) I freedive exclusively, i have never used scuba gear. I am always very careful to avoid touching anything. Besides my max depth is around 50ft or so, and i suspect that most rockfish lay their eggs in deeper water than i have access to.
#3)Water clarity at the outer islands is more a function of natural, immediate content such as alga or plankton than any pollution coming from the mainland. The last tuna (bluefin) run at Catalina was fall 86', west end . The tuna would hold in 400ft of water then come up every afternoon. This went on for 6 weeks, until they were all gone...
#4)I have fished year around in my own skiff/s since 84'. To date i have traveled over 75,000nm in our waters and have spent some 450 nights alone on the water. During all of those years on the water, i took 1 (one) limit of fish---PERIOD! 3 seabass off the breakwater back in 86'. In all of my years fishing from my skiff, i have only taken 3 (three) rockfish. I knew the very first time i fished Catalina in 78' that rockfish populations were NOT SUSTAINABLE as a for-take specie. Since 90', i have taken an average of 10 (ten) fish per year. I NEVER played catch-injure-release fishing. I only kept seabass, hailbut, yellowtail and tuna. I always fished large baits to avoid hooking small fish. I NEVER fished sandbass or barracuda or any toher resident specie such as sheephead, sculpin, cabazon,etc. I often traveled over a thousand miles on the water between keeping fish.....
#5)I generally anchor in around 30ft of water. I have an incredible window in the floor of my skiff that allows me to see the bottom and place my anchor exactly where i want to. When i anchor on the Cortes (not Cortez) i am able to put my anchor on a patch of sand the size of a coffee table. I am very mindfull of where i place my anchor. I can think of no reason for them to keep non-consumptive users out of the reserves. Can you?
#6) ???
You had a great opportunity to enlighten me, but instead you allowed your ego to intervene and sullied what could have been an informative exchange.
later...