APPENDIX III APPENDIX III 
Washington, Oregon, and California industry officials 
estimated that the average crew size on a typical trawler is 
between three and five, including the skipper. Assuming an 
average number of four fishermen per vessel, about 1,120 west 
coast fishermen were working in the groundfishing industry. 
The number of employees working in the 49 plants that 
produce groundfish fillets and steaks is not available. 
Recreational fishing 
Bottomfishing represents a large and rapidly increasing 
portion of recreational fishing on the west coast. Several 
reasons for the recent interest in bottom fish are: (1) more 
highly prized sportfish such as salmon have declined in avail- 
ability, (2) bottom fish are relatively easy to catch and 
require little experience or specialized gear, (3) they can 
often be caught near major metropolitan areas, and (4) various 
groundfish are excellent food. 
In the past few years, sportsmen in the Pacific North- 
west have become interested in the potential of bottom fish 
for sport fishing. Bottom fish along the coasts of Oregon, 
Washington, and Alaska represent what may be the last major 
undeveloped sport fishery in the country. This resource has 
probably been ignored in the Northwest due to the dominance 
of salmon angling, and this dominance has inhibited recre- 
ational development of other fisheries. Before the early 1960s, 
there were few angling trips specifically for bottomfish. 
Nearly all bottom fish caught, including lingcod and halibut, 
were incidentally hooked while fishing for salmon. Between 
1965 and 1970 the number of bottom fish angling trips in 
Washington State increased as interest in bottom fish both as 
recreational and food fishes grew. 
The outlook in the Pacific Northwest appears to be for 
a continued rapid increase in bottomfishing. This forecast is 
due to increased population, increased awareness of the bottom 
fish potential, and the uncertain future of salmon angling. 
However, the predicted increase in fishing for species other 
than salmon in the Northwest accentuates the need for more 
research on these species. Basic facts on life history, ecolo- 
gy, age, and growth patterns are lacking for most of these 
species. 
Southern California marine recreational fishermen ex- 
ploit many coastal fish species. U.S. partyboat fishing, in 
which fishermen rent space aboard a boat for a day or half 
day, has been popular in southern California since the 1920s. 
In the last decade, partyboat fishermen have caught about 4 
120 
