Mr. Laurent stated that one of most important groups involved in this issue is the commercial fishermen because they know the ocean best. CDFG began looking at the fishery in 1992 when only 52,000 pounds of live fish were harvested. In 1997, over 1 million pounds of live fish were recorded caught by licensed California fishermen. The data also did not indicate whether decreased landings were a result of decreased fishing effort, or declining fish populations. Mr. Hardy pointed out that CDFG has not witnessed a decline in the average size of the fish species being targeted by the live fish fishery.
Managers often use declining fish sizes as an indicator of an impacted species.
However, Mr. Hardy was questioned whether this theory would hold up when the fishery is selecting small fish as opposed to large fish. Phase I is in response to storm damage activities and Phase II is a more comprehensive planning effort to address corridor management on a larger scale. The Phase I planning effort, targeted for completion by December 1998, is intended to develop interagency agreement and facilitate storm damage response for future years. The group will be involved in developing the plan from its conception and will ensure the proper level of involvement by various interests along the way. Highway 1 is a destination which provides a view of the Sanctuary.