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The nearshore Pacific coast from the Oregon border to Point Conception is an area of high productivity for numerous species of fish taken by both sport and commercial fisheries (Miller and Gotshall 1965; Oliphant et al. 1990). The coastal area, spanning approximately 800 kilometers, has a variety of habitats including nearshore kelp forests, rocky reefs, sandy bottoms and beaches, bays and estuaries, submarine canyons, and open ocean areas. Southward advection by the California Current and northerly winds with upwelling of nutrients cause high levels of primary and secondary productivity and fish biomass (Parrish et al. 1981; Chelton et al. 1982; Roesler and Chelton 1987). Fish and invertebrates in this area have feeding and reproductive strategies to deal with resulting offshore Transport (Parrish et al. 1981; Hobson and Chess 1988; Roughgarden et al. 1988). The diversity of species and habitats is reflected in the 169 species of fish recorded in the sport catch (Appendix A). Recreational fishing occurs from a variety of modes (defined by the structure or platform from which fishing occurs and the gear used) including hook-and-line fishing from piers and docks, jetties and breakwaters, beaches and banks, private or rental boats (PRBs), and commercial passenger fishing vessels (CPFVs), and also spear and net fishing (Albin et al. 1993).
Interannual variability in the California Current influences distribution and abundance of plankton, invertebrates, and fish (Chelton et al. 1982; Roesler and Chelton 1987; Roughgarden et al. 1988; Dayton and Tegner 1989). Periodic disruptions of the California Current, often associated with El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events, affect available nutrients and zooplankton in central and southern California (Chelton et al. 1982; Dayton and Tegner 1989) and may influence recruitment success among invertebrates and fish (Parrish et al. 1981; Roughgarden et al. 1988 ; Hollowed and Wooster 1992). Range extensions and northward population shifts of sport and commercial fish have been reported for the 1941, 1957-59, and 1982-83 ENSO events (Hubbs 1948; Radovich 1961; Dayton and Tegner 1989).
Seasonal differences in geostrophic flow patterns between northern and southern California affect both productivity and reproductive strategies of fish. Northern and central California waters exhibit offshore transport throughout the year that increases during spring and summer months with resulting seasonal periods of increased upwelling and high productivity. Such offshore transport supports reproductive success of fish with spawning strategies that minimize pelagic exposure (e.g. demersal spawning, livebearing). The Southern California Bight, with a gyre that minimizes offshore transport, has lower productivity but allows successful reproduction of species with pelagic early life stages (Parrish et al. 1981).
Long-term studies of fish stocks of importance to both sport and commercial fisheries in central and northern California are limited to select species groups such as salmonids, several rockfishes (bocaccio1, canary rockfish, chilipepper, and yellowtail rockfish), and lingcod. Commercial landing weights and value have been recorded by port area continuously since 1916 (Oliphant et al. 1990). Joint federal and state stock assessments for groundfish have been conducted since 1978 (Pearson and Ralston 1990; Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) 1992; Rogers and Bence 1992; Bence and Rogers 1993), and for salmon since 1976 (PFMC 1992). Groundfish monitoring, primarily directed at rockfish, has included fishery-independent trawl surveys since 1977 (Fraidenburg 1980; Gunderson and Sample 1980; Dark et al. 1983), dockside sampling (PFMC 1992), and rockfish recruitment surveys (Adams 1992a).
Past monitoring of the northern and central California marine recreational fishery was minimal. CPFV effort and catch data have been tabulated by port area from operator logs since 1947 and published by port area only for the 1947-67 period (Young 1969). The California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) conducted an overview survey of all species from 1958 through 1961 (Miller and Gotshall 1965) and a more detailed assessment of blue rockfish and lingcod from 1959 through 1972 (Miller and Geibel 1973).
In 1980-89 a new national marine sport fishery survey, the Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey (MRFSS), was conducted on the west coast from Washington through California. MRFSS was a cooperative effort among the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission (PSMFC), and Washington, Oregon, and California state fishery resource agencies. The goal of the survey was to obtain effort and catch statistics and biological data for all marine recreational fish except salmon, which are subject to independent surveys by the states. During 1987 to 1989 reduced MRFSS funding halved the sampling effort, which reduced survey comparability to previous years. The MRFSS was suspended on the Pacific coast from 1990 through 1992.
MRFSS effort and catch statistics from 1980 through 1986 have been published as data tables separating California into two broad regions (U.S. Department of Commerce 1987). More recently, 1980-86 MRFSS statistics were restructured to allow historical comparisons by smaller county areas (Karpov 1987; Karpov and Kwiecien 1988; Albin et al. 1993).
The purpose of our study is to use the restructured 1980-86 MRFSS statistics and other available data to: