 |
|
 |
| ||
|
Saving Surfperch
State resource managers have their eye on the steadily declining population of surfperch, but they aren’t the sort of fish that stand out in a crowd. The 19 species of the family Embiotocidae that inhabit California’s coastal waters all share a basically elliptical shape and have forked tails. They come in a range of colors, most with some kind of bars or stripes, but there’s nothing dramatic or unusual in their appearance that would catch your eye.
But surfperch do have a few characteristics atypical of their finny relatives, including some that may be getting them into trouble. Surfperch are one of the few kinds of fish that are viviparous, or "live bearing" and the females of many species migrate to shallow estuarine waters to give birth. When the fish are getting set to bear their young, they linger near piers and jetties that are popular with the rod and reel set. Since surfperch are prone to snagging a clam or crab dangling from a hook, they frequently find their way onto someone’s dinner plate.
"They are really potentially susceptible to overharvesting pressures," says Cal Fish & Game’s Kathy Hieb. Gestation lasts between three and six months, and any pregnant surfperch that are caught means the loss of its entire crop of young. Hieb notes that even if a fish is released, it may spontaneously abort its fetuses.
Researchers have collected fourteen surfperch species in the Estuary. The numbers of surfperch in San Francisco Bay have steadily declined since the 1980s (Hieb suspects that they may have been going down even before her agency began collecting surfperch data in 1980). White, pile, and barred surfperch are now rarely found in the Bay. Hieb says that in recent years, her sampling turns up few, if any, individuals of these species.
In December, the Fish and Game Commission voted to reduce the limits on surfperch catches year round, from twenty fish to a total of five per day. It also prohibited the taking of surfperch in the Bay from April 1 to July 31, the months when the pregnant females are most likely to be found in the shallows.
The decision raised one controversy. The commission originally included shiner surfperch in the new regulations. Shiners, however, are very popular baitfish. The action drew loud protests, and in March the commission rescinded the summer ban for taking the species. In addition it reinstated the previous twenty fish per day limit on shiners. (The limits for the other species remain in place).
Some commercial fisheries along the coast take surfperch, but in the Bay almost all of them are caught by individuals fishing from the shore or piers. Many of those who fish from the Bay shoreline are low income people, who use what they catch as a major source of protein. They are often non English speaking immigrants, which poses difficulties for Fish & Game officials trying to get the word out about the ban. The agency has publicized the ban in its handouts, and has sent press releases to papers serving Latino and Asian communities.
Cal Fish & Game’s Don Schultze believes that a number of factors, including pollution and habitat loss, probably played a role in the population decline. Those problems require long term, difficult fixes, he says. "Fishing is the only thing we have control over, so to speak." Because of their low reproductive rate, it will probably take two or three years before researchers start noticing any increase in the populations of surfperch species in the Bay as a result of the summertime ban and the new limits, Hieb says.
Contact: Don Schultze (916)227-5670 O’B
[ ABAG HOME | SFEP HOME ]
Copyright © 2002, San Francisco Estuary Project