December lobster report

[flyngby]

Eddie,

Looks like you and Rich and the gang got a long way to go to catch up with the Professionals!!!!!

I will book my trip soon!!!

Steve

PS. John! I would like to see you pose like that with their cousins from the East Coast!

[DockRat]

Great bug report, keep them coming....just don't tell Dockrat about the higher increases in the last 10 years of lobsters from Ca and still you guys are getting some nice catches, despite the numbers below:

NMFS Landings Query Results

* Year : From: 1999 To: 2008
* Species : LOBSTER, CALIFORNIA SPINY
* State : California

Year Species Metric Tons Pounds $
1999 LOBSTER, CALIFORNIA SPINY 223.8 493,311 3,647,995
2000 LOBSTER, CALIFORNIA SPINY 320.5 706,561 4,710,924
2001 LOBSTER, CALIFORNIA SPINY 316.1 696,867 4,475,393
2002 LOBSTER, CALIFORNIA SPINY 318.5 702,055 4,784,056
2003 LOBSTER, CALIFORNIA SPINY 333.7 735,566 5,278,396
2004 LOBSTER, CALIFORNIA SPINY 390.2 860,199 6,160,408
2005 LOBSTER, CALIFORNIA SPINY 345.2 761,031 6,038,571
2006 LOBSTER, CALIFORNIA SPINY 402.0 886,349 8,110,562
2007 LOBSTER, CALIFORNIA SPINY 300.6 662,644 6,915,601
2008 LOBSTER, CALIFORNIA SPINY 334.6 737,597 7,969,226
GRAND TOTALS: - 3,285.0 7,242,180 58,091,132

information source: http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/st1/commercial/index.html

And that's just the commercial boats.....

Lobster cards, lol, yea, those are okay, too....it's for data alright, but it's such a drop in the bucket compared to the recreational catches and not a MAJOR factor if there's to be any sort of drastic changes in the regs for the personal take.

I don't see that the bugs are getting smaller. Everyone's within their legal size and bag limits, so it's all GOOD!!

In my opinion the State Lobster stock is in fine shape, evidence by the catch #s
But FYI the Local Trappers that I talk to say different. I'm talking about the guys who trap within 10 miles of The Port of LA/LB.

Go down to San Pedro or Terminal Island and talk to the locals and you'll get another story. I used to watch my neighbors at the marina unload 6 trash cans useing the lift gate on thier pickup to load. Now they toss 1 trash can into the pickup with about a foot of lobsters in it. They see a major decline in the lobster populatios close to the harbor. Hoopers ?

Can you find any data on the # of traps allowowed in the last 10 years?
It seems like every year More and More traps and some oldtimers at the marina tell me they have never seen so many traps each year.
Does anyone know why? Do they have a limit on the # of traps?

Yes there is a limit on Commercial Lobster Licenses issued and sometimes not easy to find someone selling one. But can a guy fish as many traps as he wants ? Do they set limits ?

Lobster cards, lol, yea, those are okay, too....it's for data alright, but it's such a drop in the bucket compared to the recreational catches and not a MAJOR factor if there's to be any sort of drastic changes in the regs for the personal take.

I don't see that the bugs are getting smaller. Everyone's within their legal size and bag limits, so it's all GOOD!!!!

The Lobster Card is just the begining.

My main beef is 'NOT' the State of Ca lobster population.

BUT is the Lobster Card, Closed Breakwalls, Hoopers vs Divers fighting, boats going on the rocks, MORE NEW REGS COMING!!!


Smile Now, Cry Later

DR

[DockRat]

you got too much time on your hand

Yah sure Working all the time to keep the family afloat
DR

[basscat]

In regards to some of Dockrat's questions.....I have two relatives who are commercial fisherman: uncle with 30 plus years and a cousin with about 15 years under the belt.

The coml's are allowed to set their traps 6 days in advance of the opener, they just can't pull them out like everyone else (on the opening day that is) and they are allowed to drop several hundred traps at a time.

Not sure if your people you talk to are the same ones I do and not counting my relatives, who are constantly bitching and complaining all day and night long, but it's not so much the recreational hoopers that's the "main" problem, they are mere irritants versus below:

In case you don't know Dockrat, there's more than just the hoopers that's the problem: pollution (and its levels) and sea dogs (seals and sea lions).

Ever guess how much the biologists know the minimum #'s each dog eats? On average 50#'s a day times 50-60 known dogs all around there (and those are the known ones, there are 2-3X's not accounted for).. do the math...if you never seen some go after your baited stuff, they will take out your bugs very stealth like as you pull....easy meals for them. If you can take care of the always hungry bug eaters, you'll see an increase in the catches.

Last documented number count of the dogs was just over 100,000 with the majority sitting off in the warmer southern CA waters, up from 40,000 just several years ago.

I have not see that many shorts reports that you mentioned of 200 to 1 ratios you said on the BD site, in fact, I see more near limits, of course, you do tend to misread things or read too much into them or blow them out of proportions. Maybe you can copy and paste of some of those reports.

I don't know how many lobster cards are actually mailed back to DFG to get an accurate count, but like most guys who have to mail back the Declaration cards from fishes caught off in mexican waters is very small in mailing them back.

Will the cards make more regulations later...yea, probably and for the good....

It was I think 10 years ago or more when the hoops limits per boat/person was unlimited, now it's 10, maybe they might go to 8 or 5 later, but it's not going to stop the recreational guys. And when we all see that DFG does reduce the hoop in the water limit, don't start getting all jawed up and start on the bandwagon of "I told you so". If they also drop the bag limits, so what? It's all for the good. People will still go out there.

Don't forget that we rec guys have a limited period to catch bugs, then it's closed. This is where DFG gets their payback once the season's stop and the tips goes up for the poachers. It's the poachers that might deplete the harbor stocks along with the dogs. Poachers with their undersizes and way over the limits as the rest of us are law abiders.

[mullet]

Your right they put them in early to get their spots but,
you missed one detail.
They must be wired open.
Mike

[HESBROS]

Maybe the commercial guys are their own worst enemy. As previously mentioned, they used to bring in 2+ 50 gallon trach cans full of bugs each day. And now there are even more commercial guys with even more traps.

So, we all know the commercial guys have "their spots" that they set on every year. So maybe, the populations for their "go to" spots are less due to the pressure they themselves put on them.

And with more and more commercial guys, what do they expect? They are no different than recreational hoopers and all the crying that goes on here about the spots being stolen and all the legal bugs cleaned out.

I know that I will never take the blame or even consider that I have hurt the commercial guys catch. As a matter of fact DR pointed out that I dont even hoop anywhere that commercial guys can in LB.

As for the other places I hoop, like Dana Point, I might hoop the outside of the big wall, between the commercial traps and the wall, but the commercial traps are a long ways off that wall, and if me being down there one night a week taking 14 or so lobster caused them to go belly up, then they should move their gear.

I never hoop around commercial traps, I dont see the point, if there are bugs there, they are in the traps! Plus I dont want to even worry about wrapping a prop with commercial rope. A few years back, after a night of hooping in Dana Point a commercial guy rolled up to us down near Clemente Pier in the morning asking if we lost any hoop nets, we told him know and asked why. He had 3 hoops nets that had been tangled in his gear. If that happens, you are too close.

I dont think anyone, even the ologists know enough about our lobster and thier habits and movement to say that hooping, or dogs, or the water quality are causing problems.

[Fisherman57]

Ya never have to worry about me poaching your spot Eddie.......
I catch most of mine this way..........

[HESBROS]

lollololololol, thats funny Dana! Whee do I get one of those?

[sansou]

Only in Vegas......


Hesbros, I for one enjoy reading your reports. Makes me drool butter.

[HESBROS]

Only in Vegas......


Hesbros, I for one enjoy reading your reports. Makes me drool butter.

Thanks! I am not worried about my posts shutting down the fishing.....so I will continue to posts my reports as I see fit! Nothing to do with "beating my chest", just like to let the gang know whats going on. And if anyone figures out the spots and hoop there, I will find new spots!