I wish rockfish would flourish again to have a Puget retention policy again.
The Quillbacks and Coppers are doing just fine from what I see out here. Eliminating seals might help them do even better since I am sure they eat their share as well as compete for baitfish.
A one fish a day limit, 100 foot depth restriction, and even a minimum size of 14", or require first fish to be kept (to reduce incidental decompression mortality) would be all the state has to do to prevent impacts on the endangered rockfish. BTW, calling the Bocaccio Rockfish endangered is ridiculous, it's like saying Eiders are endangered in WA, they were never here in large numbers in the first place. They could make this season seperate from the ling season which would help extend fishing opportunities and positive impacts on local communities as well as keep the incidental catch at little more than what already happens during ling season.
In nine years of fishing out here, I would guess that I, and friends on my boat, have boated at least 1000 rockfish. In all of that time, even before the lingcod depth restriction, we have caught a whopping
THREE of the endangered ones. One of these was even a juvenile, which looks different than the adult form, that the state did not, and still does not picture in the regs.
This restriction is simply the lazy way for the state to manage this fishery.
