Los Angeles Times Recreational Fisheries - QUERIES

Section 1. The Catch by Year can be used to list the catch of an individual species or more than one species over the years. This reflects trends in relative abundance or availability to the sport fishery. You may select one or more, years, species and ports to look at the data.

A. The combined annual catches of any combination of species over the years 1959-2003 for selected ports. This will return combined catches for all species selected, for the selected years, combined for the ports selected.

B. The separate annual catches of any combination of species over the years 1959-2003 for selected ports. This will return the separate catches of each selected species for the selected years, combined for the ports selected.

Section 2. The Catch by Month can be used to determine trends in seasonal catch of a given species. This is total catch, so it may also reflect trends in effort for a given species as well as apparent abundance.

A. The Combined Catch by Month for any combination of species over the selected years within 1959-2003, for selected ports. This will return the combined monthly catch for all species selected, for ports selected and averaged for all the selected years.

B. Combined Catch by Month (Single Line Marker Chart)

C. The Separate Catch by Month for any combination of species over the selected years within 1959-2003, combined for the selected ports. This will return the separate monthly catch for the selected species averaged over the selected years and combined for the selected ports.

D. Separate Catch by Month (Multiple Line Marker Chart)

Section 3. The number of anglers fishing is the only measurement of "effort" in this data set.  However, because the fish reports combine the angler counts on fishing vessels which may be directing their effort towards different species complements, total catch per unit of effort (CPUE) calculations for a given species may overestimate the effort aspect. This will be especially true in ports that have a large number of vessels which fish along the coast or nearby islands augmented seasonally with offshore fishing for pelagic species. The catch per angler gives the best estimate of CPUE available and may be useful for monitoring long term trends in specific regions but should be viewed with caution as a measure of the absolute CPUE for any one species.

A. The combined number of fish caught per angler for selected species, years and ports. This query will return the combined Catch per angler for the combined species by year and combined for selected ports.

B. The combined number of fish caught per angler by month for selected species, years and ports. This query will return the combined monthly Catch per angler for the combined species by year and combined for selected ports.

C. The number of fish caught per angler for separate species, year and ports selected. This query will return the separate Catch per Angler for each separate species by year and combined for selected ports.

D. The monthly number of fish caught per angler for separate species, year and ports selected. This query will return the separate monthly Catch per Angler for each species selected, by year and combined for selected ports.

E. Combined Caught per Angler by Month (Single Line Marker Chart)

F. Separate Caught per Angler by Month (Multiple Line Marker Chart)

Section 4. Number of Anglers by Zone. Zones reflect four geographical regions that roughly represent separate fishing areas in southern California (See map). Zone A vessels fish the waters off northern Baja California Mexico and San Diego north to Oceanside, the southern region of the southern California Bight. Zone B vessels fish the flats off Huntington Beach and Newport Beach and waters off Long Beach as well as the coastal islands of San Clemente, San Nicolas and Santa Catalina, the central region of the southern California Bight. Zone C vessels fish the regions of Santa Monica Bay and Ventura flats, coastal islands of Santa Barbara, Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa and San Miguel, the northern portion of the southern California Bight. Zone D vessels fish north of Pt. Conception in coastal waters and on Santa Lucia Bank as well as offshore. These Zone definitions are general and by no means indicate that vessels don't fish in areas outside of their general zone definition if conditions dictate.

A. Total Number of Anglers per Year by selected zones for selected Years. This result gives a combined total of Anglers for the zones and years selected.

B. Average Number of Anglers per Month by selected zone by selected Years, combined over selected zones. This query gives a summation of average angler effort by month for the years and zones selected.

C. Total Number of Anglers per Year by separate selected zone. This query permits the comparison of annual angler effort between zones for selected years.

D. Average Number of Anglers per Month over selected Years by separate selected Zones. This query permits the comparison of monthly angler effort between zones for selected years.