Declining Rockfish Lengths in the Monterey Bay, California, Recreational Fishery, 1959–94

Abstract

From p. 27: "The mean length of rockfish caught in the late 1970s increased as CPFVs moved into deeper water. The mean length was generally larger for deepwater species than for shallow-water species, and large individuals were caught from 1977 through 1983. A surge of new recruitment after the 1982-83 El Niño produced a sharp drop in mean length of several important species and a decline in combined rockfish mean length. Mean lengths did not recover to the high levels of 198283 despite the growth of these recruits and the continued emphasis on deepwater species through 1991."