UNIT 21 

 NEARSHORE FISHERIES 



to overfishing. Abundance and stock size remain 

 unknown for most eastern Pacific elasmobranchs. 

 However, much information has been learned in 

 recent years, and fisher}' managers have taken steps 

 to monitor and control harvest in most ot these 

 fisheries. 



Smelt — Smelt resources in the region belong to 

 two diHerent families, Osmeridae (the true smelt) 

 and Atherinidae (the silversides). There are a num- 

 ber of species of the two families. The resources 

 provide for seasonal commercial and recreational 

 fisheries for Washington, Oregon, and California. 

 The resources are known for their migratory runs 

 to coastal areas and rivers to spawn. They come 

 en masse, which makes them attractive targets for 

 recreational and commercial fisheries. Some smelt 

 fishing is almost a ritual. Night smelt, for example, 

 with its nocturnal habits is harvested during a brief 

 spawning period by A-frame dip nets in the surf 

 zone. Most are caught in the Eureka, California, 

 area. The grunion (a species in the smelt group) 

 fishery is quite unique since by state law sport 



anglers may use only their hands to grab the fish 

 during their spawning runs on southern Califor- 

 nia beaches. 



Despite their economic and social importance 

 to humans and to ecologically related species as 

 an important forage-base species, the abundance 

 and status of many smelt stocks are still poorly 

 known. Much is known of the species' biology and 

 location and timing of the runs, but more is yet to 

 be learned about the causes of population fluctua- 

 tions and long-term trends. 



WESTERN PACIFIC REGION 



Fisheries in the nearshore waters of the tropi- 

 cal and subtropical islands of Hawaii and the U.S.- 

 associated Pacific islands are highly diverse though 

 lower in aggregate volume than commercial or 

 recreational fisheries of the U.S. mainland. Land- 

 ings are reported to be about 1 ,400 t annually 

 (Table 21-5). Many fisheries are unique to certain 

 localities such as that for the palolo worm in 

 American Samoa, seasonal fisheries for rabbitfish 

 in Guam, and limpet (opihi) fisheries in Hawaii. 

 Other fisheries are common to all islands, such as 

 the fisheries for bigeye scad, called akule in Ha- 

 waii, atule in American Samoa, and atulai in Guam 

 and the Notthern Mariana Islands. 



The more highly populated Main Hawaiian 

 Islands receive the heaviest inshore fishing pres- 

 sure, with lighter pressure from the less densely 

 populated islands to the mostly uninhabited is- 

 lands of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and 

 the northern islands of the C^ommonwealth of the 



Catch of spiny dogfish, rat- 

 fish, sea urchins, lingcod, 

 and starfish, Washington 

 coast. 



Species/group 



Akule^ 



Opelu^ 



Other inshore fisheries^ 



Inshore reef fishes^ 



Inshore reef fishes'" 



Recent 



average yield 



(RAY) 



310 



160 



700 



90 



160 



Fishery 



utilization 



level 



Full 

 Full 

 Full 

 Full 

 Full 



Stock level 



relative to 



LTPY' 



Unknown 

 Unknown 

 Unknown 

 Unknown 

 Unknown 



Table 21-5 



Productivity in metric tons 

 and status of western Pacific 

 island nearshore fishery re- 

 sources. 



Total 



,420 



'LTPY = long-term potential yield 

 -Hawaiian Islands (1993-95 averge) 

 %uam 11993-95) 

 ^American Samoa (1993-95 average) 



223 



