DFG News: New Daily/Yearly Bag Limits Will Greet Abalone Divers



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Posted by Chris on March 15, 2002 at 14:59:30:

California Department of Fish and Game
NEWS RELEASE 02:036 March 15,2002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New Daily/Yearly Bag Limits Will Greet Abalone Divers for April 1
Split-Season Opener

When recreational abalone fishing begins on Monday, April 1, 2002 for a
seven-month split season, new daily and yearly bag limits will be in
effect. The process for turning in abalone report punch cards has also
changed.
Last December, the Fish and Game Commission approved new
2002-2003 sportfishing regulations that reduces recreational bag limits
on abalone to three per day, 24 per year, down from four per day, and
100 per year. The abalone sport season runs each year from April 1 to
June 30, and then from Aug. 1 to Nov. 30, only in ocean waters north of
San Francisco Bay. North coast red abalone can only be taken by sport
divers for personal consumption.
"The new regulations reflect a fundamental change in fishery
management philosophy which emphasizes a cautious approach," said Senior
Marine Biologist Kon Karpov, DFG's abalone team leader. "Caution in
managing abalone fisheries is especially warranted since abalone
fisheries worldwide have declined due to overfishing and other causes.
Such management should be of great help in maintaining a productive
abalone fishery into the future."
This will be the third year an abalone report punch card is
required for each licensed abalone diver, and the process has changed
somewhat. Abalone report cards must be returned to the DFG within 30
days of the close of the season, or Dec. 1, rather than the end of the
calendar year.
DFG also added a location code to the punch card to collect more
precise data on location of take. This information will assist in
determining the distribution of the abalone catch. Rather than recording
the county of capture, a code for specific sites will be entered. For
sites other than those listed on the card, the county code should be
entered. Immediately upon taking and/or bringing ashore an abalone,
divers must punch a hole in the report card in one of the designated
locations and record with indelible ink, the date, time, and location in
the spaces provided adjacent to the punch. The holes do not need to be
large; some people used safety pins to punch holes last year. The
accuracy of the analysis depends upon the number of cards returned.
Return of abalone report cards is mandatory. It is important
that all cards are returned whether any abalone are taken or not.
Regulations still include a 7- inch minimum size limit, measured
along the longest shell diameter, and possession of a fixed measuring
device.
Sport divers are prohibited from using scuba or other surface
supplied air equipment to catch abalone and cannot possess abalone on
board any boat, vessel, or floating device in the water containing scuba
or surface supplied air. There is no problem transporting abalone and
scuba gear while together on land. Divers working from boats, kayaks,
float tubes or other floating devices who wish to use scuba equipment to
spear fish or harvest sea urchins, rock scallops or crabs of the genus
Cancer, will need to make a separate trip.

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