Table 3.— Continued. 























1970 



Zone 



1962 



1963 



1964 



1965 



1966 



1967 



1968 



1969 



(Jan. thru June) 



YELLOWTAIL 























A 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/- 



0.00 



/- 



0.00/0.00 



-/- 



B 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.07/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00 



/- 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/- 



C 



0.00/0.00 



0.03/0.04 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00 



/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



D 



0.00/0.00 



0.36/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00 



/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



E 



-/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00 



/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



F 



-/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00 



/ooo 



0.00/0.00 



-/0.00 



G 



-/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.01/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00 



/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



H 



-/- 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00 



/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



I 



-/- 



0.55/0.64 



0.13/0.04 



0.34/0.07 



0.39/0.00 



0.09/0.00 



0.00 



/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



J 



-/- 



0.63/0.10 



0.00/0.00 



0.16/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.0037/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



K 



L 

 M 

 N 

 

 P 

 Average 

 all 



-/- 



0.00/- 



0.00/- 



0.00/- 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00 



/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



-/- 























zones 



0.00/ 0.00 



0.19/ 0.06 



0.01/ 0.00 



0.06/ 0.00 



0.04/ 0.00 



0.00/ 0.00 



0.0004/ 0.00 



0.00/0.00 



0.00/0.00 



Average 























D + N 













0.0023 



0.0002 



0.0000 



— 



increase in sightings occurred in this area during 1976-78. In 1976. 

 1 1 sightings were made about San Clemente Island, and 3 

 northwest of San Diego. In 1977. sightings totaled 210 with con- 

 centrations about Catalina and San Clemente Islands, and a small 

 group of sightings about Cortez Bank and along the coast near Pt. 

 Dume. Most of the increase in numbers of sightings occurred in the 

 late summer and fall of 1977. In 1978. 321 sightings were made. 

 and were concentrated about the southern California islands, 

 including Santa Barbara Island. An increasing number of sightings 

 occurred in the Catalina Channel south of Long Beach, and along 

 the coast both east and west of Pt. Dume. 



In recent years. Pacific mackerel have been sighted in main o[ 

 the same areas as during the 1962-65 period, the exception being 

 that sightings are not as common in the San Diego to Oceanside 

 area. 



Index Trends. — The aerial pelagic resource monitoring program 

 was started after the major decline of the Pacific mackerel fishery 

 had occurred. However, about the time the survey program was 

 started (1963). and in the \ears following, a sequence of severe 

 recruitment failures helped reduce the population to a very low- 

 level (MacCall et al. 1976). The biomass estimate in 1962 was 

 about 99.8 x 10' t. By 1963. it had declined to about 54.4 \ 10' t. 

 and to a level of about 7.3 x 10' t in 1967. A catch moratorium was 

 placed on the commercial fishery in 1970. In later years, this was 

 modified and catches off California in 1977 and 1978 amounted to 

 3.8 and 13.2x10'' t. respectively. The night index (Fig. 37) 

 declined from about 0.91 in 1963 to 0.00 in 1967 and remained at a 

 ver\ low level through an 8-yr period, from 1967 to 1975. The 

 catch also declined sharply from 18.1x10"' t in 1963 to about 

 2.3 \ 10 t in 1965. Historical records would indicate the Pacific 

 mackerel is subject to rather severe fluctuations in recruitment. In 

 1976. a small increase in the index level was evident, and in 1977 

 the index level had increased dramatically to a level of about 2.62. 

 In 1978. the 1977 level increased 2.S times, to a level of 7.46. 

 Within a 3-y r period, the Pacific mackerel went from zero observa- 

 tions o\' pure schools in 1974. to a condition in 1978 where it was 

 one of the species frequently observed in substantial tonnage. 



Jack Mackerel 



Morro Bay to San Nicolas Island.— 1962-65. Fig. 38: 1966- 

 69. Fig. 39: 1970-73. Fig. 40; 1974-78, Fig. 41. 



Jack mackerel were frequently sighted along the coast from Avila 

 northward to Pt. Sur, and from Pt. Conception eastward in the 

 Santa Barbara Channel, with centers of sightings in the Channel 

 southeast of Santa Barbara about the eastern half of Santa Cruz 

 Island, and Anacapa Island. Observations on the flight log charts, 

 from 1962 through 1969. showed little change in areas and num- 

 bers sighted. Fewer sightings were made during 1970-73 about the 

 Santa Barbara coast, Channel, and Islands, and this may have been 

 related to the oil discharge in the Santa Barbara Channel in early 

 1970. During this period, less search effort was expended north of 

 Pt. Conception, but the effort that was expended failed to note any 

 concentrations. During 1976-78. jack mackerel were sighted in 

 increasing numbers at the eastern end of the Santa Barbara Chan- 

 nel, and about Santa Cruz and Anacapa Islands, in the same areas as 

 observed during 1962-69. 



Pt. Hueneme to San Diego.— 1962-65. Fig. 42: 1966-69. Fig. 



43: 1970-73. Fig. 44: 1974-78, Fig. 45. 



For the area from Pt. Hueneme to San Diego, there has been little 

 change in the major sighting areas since 1962. Sightings declined 

 during 1970-73. as in the Santa Barbara Channel area. In 1976-78. 

 the sightings increased along the coast and about the islands and on 

 Cortez Bank. During this period, the coastal area from southwest of 

 Pt. Dume to Pt. Hueneme appeared to have a greater number of 

 sightings than during 1962-65. 



Index Trends. — The aerial night index level (Fig. 46) was about 

 2.98 in 1963. with a catch of 42. 6x 10' t. In 1964-67, the catch 

 declined about one-third, but the aerial index did not show a declin- 

 ing trend. In 1969. the index dropped sharply to a 0.65 level and 

 continued to decline through 1975 (0.40). In 1976. a small increase 

 in the index was noted (0.87), rising to 2.77 in 1977. It then 

 increased 1 .5 times in 1978 to a record high of 4.20. The substan- 

 tial increase in index level in 1977 and 1978 parallels, but does not 

 equal in magnitude, the increase in the Pacific mackerel index. 

 Both day and night indices for jack mackerel increased in 1978. 



10 



