(catch per effort level) at which the majority of an- 

 glers will cease to fish is dependent upon location 

 and accessibility of the fishing grounds. An exam- 

 ple of this is billfishing off southern California, 

 which has by the angler survey records a low catch 

 rate of 0.10 fish per day, or 10.02 days per billfish. 

 The accessibility of the fishing grounds to the large 

 southern California fleet of sportfishing boats 

 makes for a large effort in spite of a low catch. If 

 this same catch rate were common about the tip of 

 Baja California, Mexico, the number of U.S. an- 

 glers traveling to this distant area to fish for bill- 

 fishes might be only a fraction of the present 

 number. 



The angler survey sampled to a greater degree 

 those individuals who participated in the tagging 

 program, and had fished off southern California, the 

 west coast of Mexico, west coast of Central 

 America, or Australia. The postcard survey 

 method for obtaining billfish catch and effort data 

 has the potential of sampling more billfish anglers 

 than any other method. Selection of a mailing list 

 based on active billfish anglers belonging to the 

 major billfish clubs throughout the United States 

 and in other countries could provide a sampling 

 frame for a reliable worldwide statistical determina- 

 tion of sportfishing catch and effort activity. The 

 postcard method could provide a source of continu- 

 ing information on the status of billfish angling rela- 

 tive to the resource base on which it depends for the 

 least monetary expenditure, when compared with 

 other sampling methods. 



LITERATURE CITED 



ABRAMSON, N. J. 



1963. Distribution of California angling effort in 

 1961. Calif. Fish Game 49:174-182. 



CALHOUN, A.J. 



1950. California angling catch records from postal card 

 surveys: 1936-1948; with an evaluation of postal card 

 nonresponse. Calif. Fish Game 36:177-234. 



1951. California state-wide angling catch estimates for 

 1949. Calif. Fish Game 37:69-75. 



CLARK, F. N. 



1953. California marine and fresh water sport fishing in- 

 tensity in 1951. Calif. Fish Game 39:115-125. 

 JENSEN, P. T. 



1964. Landing estimates of California's marine recrea- 

 tional salmon fishery. Calif. Fish Game 50:48-52. 



KUME, S.. and J. JOSEPH. 



1969. The Japanese longline fishery for tunas and billfishes 

 in the eastern Pacific Ocean east of 130°W, 

 1964-1966. [In Span, and Engl.] Bull. Inter-Am. Trop. 

 Tuna Comm. 13:277-418. 



KUME, S., and M. B. SCHAEFER. 



1966. Studies on the Japanese long-line fishery for tuna 

 and marlin in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean during 

 1963. [In Span, and Engl.] Bull. Inter-Am. Trop. Tuna 

 Comm. 11:103-170. 

 PELGEN, D. E. 



1955. Economic values of striped bass, salmon, and 

 steelhead sport fishing in California. Calif. Fish Game 

 41:5-17. 

 SUDA. A., and M. B. SCHAEFER. 



1965. General review of the Japanese tuna long-line 

 fishery in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean 

 1956-1962. [In Span, and Engl.] Bull. Inter-Am. Trop. 

 Tuna Comm. 9:307-462. 



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