1999 

 OUR LIVING OCEANS 



Unload 

 Ventura, 



ng sea urchins, 

 California. 



Sea cucumbers. 



Sea Urchin — Commercial utilization of .sea ur- 

 chins in the United States essentially started in the 

 early 1970's with the harvest of red sea urchin roe 

 or "uni" for export to the Japanese su.slii market. 

 In addition to red sea urchin, several other species 

 are found in U.S. waters, but most are ot little 

 commercial importance due to the small size ot 

 their roe. Though limited fisheries for red sea ur- 

 chin take place off Washington and Oregon, the 

 major fishery occurs in California. 



I he commercial fishery for red sea urchin be- 

 gan in southern California in 1971 as part of an 

 NMFS program to develop new fisheries for 

 underutilized species. The fishery expanded to 

 northern California in the late 1970's and 1980's, 

 and in 1990 the value of the catch (2n.S34 t) 

 amounted to $24,700,000, making it the most 

 vakiable fishery in the state, which it remained 

 through 1995. Commercial divers harvest red sea 

 urchins using hooka gear mainly within depths of 

 7-20 m. The catch is landed alive. The resource 

 has been generally underutilized throughout the 

 Pacific coast, except for selected commercial fish- 

 ing areas. In southern California, landings have 

 generally declined since 1990 but the sea urchin 

 resource remains productive, suggesting that the 

 status of the stock is still good. In other areas, how- 

 ever, like northern California and Baja Califor- 

 nia, the fisheries have been characterized by rapid 

 growth and decline. These experiences suggest that 

 local stocks can be rapidly overharvested. 



'^^I^Cc^-SL 



Sea Cucumber — Like sea urchins, the sea cucum- 

 ber emerged more recently as a commercial spe- 

 cies in the late 1970s. The slim\', wartv sea cu- 

 cumber is harvested by trawl and by hand and 

 processed into a dried product primarily sold to 



the Asian market where it is a delicacy. A variety 

 of sea cucumber species are found from Washing- 

 ton to California; the giant red sea cucumber and 

 the warty sea cucumber are the species harvested 

 in California. Total California sea cucumber land- 

 ings were a record high 381 t (worth $18,700,000) 

 in 1996, with trawlers harvesting about 53% of 

 the catch and divers harvesting the remainder. 

 Little is known about the abundance and status of 

 the stocks. Sea cucumbers have a relatively short 

 life span, low maximum weight, low age of first 

 maturity, high natural mortality, and highly fluc- 

 tuating recruitment patterns. At the present level 

 of harvest, the resource appears not threatened. 



Elasmobranchs — Sharks, skates, and rays are an 

 important commercial and recreational resource 

 in the coastal waters of the eastern North Pacific. 

 They are taken in large numbers as both target 

 species and as bycatch in commercial groundfish 

 and coastal pelagic fisheries. Sharks targeted for 

 their flesh include the common thresher, shortfin 

 mako, spiny dogfish, soupfin, and leopard sharks. 

 Commercial shark fishing peaked off California 

 during the mid l')S()'s with localized impact on 

 the resource. Nearly 90'Ki of pelagic sharks taken 

 in this area are immature. Regulations imposed 

 by fishery managers have since reduced total fish- 

 ing effort and brought catches within manageable 

 limits. Trends in localized catch rates and length 

 at capture indicate that at least one species, the 

 common thresher, may be recovering. 



Skates, and some rays, are harvested as an in- 

 expensive substitute for sea scallops. The longnose 

 skate and big skate make up the most important 

 catch in the skate trawl fishery off niirtlKrn ('ali- 

 fornia, Oregon, and Washington. Increased de- 

 mand from foreign markets has increased skate 

 landings since 199^. Blue sharks are an important 

 bycatch in most of these fisheries. Although the 

 fins are valuable in the shark-fin trade, the car- 

 casses are discarded. Shark finning is illegal in 

 California. 



Coastal pelagic sharks remain popular with 

 recreational anglers as well. Angler effort directed 

 at sharks has grown in recent years, and several 

 shark fishing derbies are conducted annually. 



Generally, the low reproductive potential of 

 elasmobranchs makes them particulariy susceptible 



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