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03/18/2009: "SJC Bottomfish Populations Continue To Decline"

(J.Nichols photo)

A study, evaluating if voluntary no-fishing areas in San Juan County are working to recover rockfish, lingcod and other bottomfish, has been completed. The news is not good.

The study was done by SeaDoc Society visiting scientist Eric Eisenhardt and Joe Gaydos, who looked at SCUBA fish count numbers from 2001 to 2006, and found that the fish in the voluntary no-fishing areas were not larger or more abundant than in those reference in "fished" sites.

Although the study was not designed to answer why the no fish areas are not working, existing evidence suggests that the small size of the reserves, combined with their voluntary nature. is stifling their efficacy. In other words, it may be there is some fishing going on in the no fish areas.

One recommendation resulting from the studies is that jurisdictions attempting to use voluntary reserves need to account for less than 100% compliance, and plan reserve size accordingly.

The findings have been submitted to a peer-reviewed journal and have been presented to the San Juan County Marine Resources Committee, the Northwest Straits Commission and other interested groups

In 1997, San Juan County, created eight voluntary marine reserves to promote recovery of demersal fish, or bottomfish. Using SCUBA band-transects, divers collected data on population density and fish length-distribution of four bottomfish species in pairs of voluntary marine reserves and reference control sites in 2001, 2002, 2006 and 2007.

The data was used along with benthic habitat maps and fishing effort observations to evaluate voluntary marine reserve efficacy, physical size, habitat, and fishing pressure relative to reference sites.

These results were then compared to those from nearby mandatory reserves, which have shown beneficial reserve effects over similar time periods. Voluntary marine reserves showed no consistently different trends for four target bottomfish species compared to reference sites.

Selection of appropriate habitat and insufficient time since reserve establishment were not likely causes for lack of voluntary reserve effect. Instead, poor volunteer compliance combined with limited reserve size contributed to ineffective voluntary marine reserves. The relationship between reserve efficacy and reserve size appears not to be independent of regulatory nature.