Bull. SouthernCaliforniaAcad Sci. 107(1).2008,pp.25-32 ©SouthernCaliforniaAcademyofSciences,2008 Abundance and Size Composition ofVermilion Rockfish, Sebastes miniatus (Jordan and Gilbert 1880), from Sport Fishing Catches of San Quintin, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico Maria Amparo Rodriguez-Santiago1 and Rosales-Casian Jorge Adrian2 xFacultad de Ciencias Marinas, Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Km 106 carretera Tijuana-Ensenada, Ensenada, B.C., Mexico, CP. 22800 2Centro de Investigation Cientifica y de Education Superior de Ensenada, B.C., Division de Oceanologia, Departamento de Ecologia, Km 107 carretera Tijuana-Ensenada, Ensenada, B.C., Mexico. CP. 22800 — Abstract. The vermilion rockfish {Sebastes miniatus) is part of an extended group of fish species named rockcods or rockfishes that are distributed in waters of the Californias. This species is a common and popular fish caught by the commercial and recreational fishers. This study shows the results of the vermilion rockfish monitoring from the recreational fishing at San Quintin, Baja California, Mexico during 2005. A total of 71 boats were counted from one-day (Saturday) monthly visits, and a total of 1,026 vermilion rockfish was registered, 60.4% of those were measured and weighed. Catches were highest during April (25.9 ± 3.7 SE vermilions per boat), lowest (5.8 ± 3.9 SE) in November and for the overall year averaged 14.5 ± 1.3 SE. The sizes of vermilions rockfish were from 240 mm TL caught in mm November, and the biggest (680 TL) in December; the annual mean size was 448 mm TL (±2.4 mm SE). The recreational fishing at San Quintin, B.C. targeted almost all adult vermilion rockfishes, with only five individuals, ofthose measured, mm under the first maturity size (310 TL). Introduction Many fish species are shared between Baja California and California waters. The rockfishes {Sebastes spp.) comprised a large proportion of catches in the nearshore recreational fishery (Stephens et al. 2006), and commercial catch off California (Eschmeyer et al. 1983, Love 1996).) Off Baja California, the rockfishes group also makes up a substantial part of both the commercial (Hernandez-Hernandez 2002; Rosales-Casian and Gonzalez-Camacho 2003), and partyboat catch (Rodriguez- Medrano 1993). A great diversity ofrockfishes (56 species) is found within the Southern California Bight, and although little information exists about the Pacific coast of Baja California, the number of species off northern and perhaps central Baja California is similar but species composition is different (Love et al. 2002). Called vermilion rockfish, red rock cod ornamed simply "reds", Sebastesminiatus, is a common fish species that is caught from, both, the coastal commercial and the recreational fishing; is found from Prince William Sound, Alaska south to central Baja California, Mexico (O'Connell et al. 1992), but are most abundant from central California southwards (Love 1996, Love et al. 2002). Adults inhabit rocky reefs, kelp forests and canyons at depths of 15^67 m, but commonly at depths of 50-150 m, and can be found on artificial structures such as wastewater discharge pipes and oil drilling platforms (Love et al. 1990; 2002; 2003). 25 26 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Vermilion rockfish showed strong site fidelity, but they may move from reef to reef, particularly in deep water, and may be associated with following schools ofprey, such as squid (Lea et al 1999; Love 1981; Love 1996). This speciescan growto91 cmTLand 6.8 kg, with an agerecord of60 years old ofone individual (Eschmeyeret al. 1983). The first maturity formale is at 32 cm TL and females begin to mature at 31 cm, all are mature at 37 and 47 cm, respectively and are single brooders (Love et al 1990). Half population is mature at 8 years, and peak spawning months are September at northern California and November in southern California (Ven Tresca 1992). Femalevermilion rockfish appeartobereproductively activethroughoutthe year and gravid was most abundant in September, and spent individuals were observed in the highest percentage during October-November (Lea et al 1999). New larvae are pelagic and found near the surface frequently associated with algae (Ven Tresca 1999; 2001). Young-of-the-year appears in inshore shallow water beginning in February (Love 1996), and prefer a mix of hard-and-soft bottoms (Eschmeyer et al. 1983, Love 1996). Pelagic young feed small crustaceans (Ven Tresca 1992), and adults prey on other fishes (anchovies, lanternfishes, small rockfishes), octopi, squids, krill (Love 1996), and crustaceans as euphausiids, copepods, mysids, amphipods and carideans (Lea et al. 1999). In California and during 2004, a total of 212 metric tons were landed of vermilion rockfish from the recreational fishing across 1,100 miles ofcoastline, and was seventh in the list of fish species abundance (CDFG 2005). In 2005 for south central California coast, vermilion rockfish was caught in a number of 1,218 individuals by the partyboats, and was second only after the S. mystinus, the blue rockfish, with 2,751 individuals landed (Stephens et al. 2006). Little information about S. miniatus from Baja California is available. In a study ofthe recreational fishing at Bahia de Todos Santos (Ensenada, B.C.) realized during 1991, this species was not recorded in the first ten fish species caught, and classified as occasional fishingwith an occurrence of60% in boats (Rodriguez-Medrano 1993). This study is part of the catch characterization of the recreational fishing from San Quintin, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. The objective ofthis study is to determine the abundance and the length structure ofthe vermilion rockfish caught by the partyboats throughout 2005. Methods This study was conducted monthly from January to December 2005. San Quintin was selected from the Pacific coast ofnorthern Baja California because ofits importance as a fishing camp and we detected a recent increase in recreational fishing activity (Rosales- Casian and Gonzalez-Camacho, 2003). San Quintin is situated about two hundred kilometers south ofEnsenada on the Transpeninsular Highway, and the boat ramp at El Molino Viejo (Old Mill) is used for both recreational and commercial boats. The m recreational fishery at San Quintin ismainlyconductedwith small boats(upto 8 long). m This fishery involves a variety ofground and pelagic species from habitats up to 100 deep. Sampling was conducted one day per month (Saturday) and we attempted to process the catch ofthe largest possible number ofboats. The identification of S. miniatus was according to Miller and Lea (1972). Vermilion rockfish catch from the individual boats were counted and measured upon arrival and before oftheir cleaning. The total and standard lengths (mm-TL, SL) were obtained with one measurement board with divisions to millimeter. If boats arrived while we were working fish, the vermilions were only counted. VERMILION ROCKFISH FROM SAN QUINTIN RECREATIONAL FISHING 27 Table 1. Numbersofvermilionrockfishcaughtandmonthlymeancatchperboatandperanglerfrom the recreational fishing at San Quintin, B.C. Mexico, (SE: standard error). NO. TOTAL Catch per Catch per MONTH BOATS FISH MIN. MAX. Boat SE Anglers Angler SE January 5 55 1 33 11.0 5.79 12 4.6 1.41 February 5 46 1 15 9.2 2.65 12 3.8 1.25 March 5 106 12 27 21.2 2.78 10 10.6 1.39 April 9 233 16 47 25.9 3.65 23 10.1 1.71 May 8 185 12 40 23.1 3.27 21 8.8 1.39 June 5 33 3 16 6.6 2.42 12 2.8 0.72 July 5 64 2 31 12.8 5.79 11 5.8 2.18 August 8 80 1 28 10.0 3.85 17 4.7 1.81 September 7 55 1 18 7.9 2.48 15 3.7 1.26 October 4 75 3 35 18.8 8.05 13 7.8 3.56 November 4 23 2 11 5.8 1.93 10 2.3 0.55 December 6 71 5 19 11.8 2.43 16 4.4 1.45 Total 71 1026 1 47 14.5 1.33 172 6.0 0.57 Abundance was converted to catch per unit effort (CPUE) by dividing the monthly number of fishes by the monthly number of boat trips (Rosales-Casian and Gonzalez- Camacho 2003). Also, we calculated the fish per angler by dividing the number of monthly vermilions by the number ofanglers per month. We used a Kruskal-Wallis test (ANOVA) to detect monthly mean differences. mm Thetotallengths(TL-mm) weregrouped by20 length-classes andtheirfrequencies werepresentedforall individuals and by seasons: winter(January-March), spring(April- June), summer (July-September), fall (October-December). Each monthly sample included four to nine boats, and over seasons increased to 14 to 22 boats. Sizes were transformed to (logio) and to determine seasonal differences in length means we used an ANOVA. Results During our visits at San Quintin in 2005, the catch of71 boats and a total number of 1,026 vermilion rockfish was recorded; vermilions were caught in all months with the lowest number ofboats recorded in October and November (four boats, each), and the highest in April with nine boats (Table 1). The minimum catch per vessel was one vermillion (January, February, August and September) to a maximum of47 individuals by one boat in April. The lowest total monthly catch was recorded during November in four boats (23 vermillion rockfishes), and the highest total monthly catch was 233 individualsbynine boats duringApril, whichcaught from 16to47 individualscatchedby singles boats (Table 1). The catch per boat for the overall year averaged 14.5 ± 1.3 SE (SE: standard error) vermilions per boat (Table 1), with the highest mean computed for April (25.9 ± 3.7 SE vermilions per boat), and lowest (5.8 ± 3.9 SE vermilions per boat) for November. The distribution ofthe vermilion catch per boat on the complete year shows a large increase during March-May, with the highest mean during April; another peak was observed duringOctober, and two lowestatJune(6.6 ± 2.4 SEvermilions perboat) and November (5.8 ± 1.9 SE) (Fig. 1). There was a significant difference in the mean catch (vermilions per boat) between months of2005 (Kruskal-Wallis H = 27.719, p = 0.0036). The catch per angler presented a peak during March to May (Table 1); the annual mean catch per 2S SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 32 n= 1,026 fish 30 -•- Mean ±SE 28 <1- o 26 m K 24 LU Q_ 22 X (/) 20 u_ ^-* 18 OLU 2 16 < 14 12 Zm> < 10 z < 8 LU 2 6 4 A J J A TIME (MONTHS) Fig. 1. Monthlymeanabundanceofvermilion rockfish(fish perboat)caught by sportfishingboatsat San Quintin, B.C., Mexico. angler was 6.0 vermilions per angler (±0.6 SE), with the highest mean in March (10.6 vermilions per angler ± 1.4 SE) and the lowest duringJune (2.8 ± 0.7 SE) and November (2.3 ± 0.6 SE); the Kruskal-Wallis test showed differences in the monthly mean catch per angler (H = 25.064 p = 0.0089). A total of 620 vermilion rockfish (60.4% of total) were measured and weighed. The smallest fish was 240 mm TLcaught duringNovember, and the largest (680 mm TL) was found in December. The annual mean size was 448 mm TL (±2.4 mm SE), with the minimummean sizefound in February (366.4 mmTL) and themaximum (477.5 mmTL) in May (Table 2). There was a significant difference in monthly mean TL (ANOVA, F = = 19.025, p 0.000). The overall size distribution ofthe vermilion rockfish shows a mode at the size class of 400^419 mm TL (Fig. 2), with a main group size from 380^79 mm TL that represented mm 64.8% of the total fish measured. By seasons, the smallest sizes (<260 TL) were present in the catch offall (Fig. 3), and specifically during November; The largest mean size was found for summer (mean: 466.9 mm ± 3.5 SE), and the lowest forwinter (mean: 422.2 mm ±3.8 SE); Differences between length mean by seasons were found (ANOVA, F = 21.201, p = 0.000). Discussion Vermilion rockfish are popularin both the recreational and commercial fisheries (Love et al. 1990, Love 1996). They are highly prized by party and private vessel anglers throughout California with the majority ofcatches occurring from Monterey Bay south. VERMILION ROCKFISH FROM SAN QUINTIN RECREATIONAL FISHING 29 Table 2. Total length (mm) and monthly length mean ofvermilion rockfish caught by recreational boats at San Quintin, Baja California, Mexico. MONTH TOTAL FISH MIN. LT (mm) MAX. LT (mm) MEAN SD SE January 22 350 490 388.6 36.8 7.8 February 29 310 400 366.4 21.8 4.0 March 105 320 560 444.7 38.1 3.7 April 100 345 615 457.6 68.4 6.8 May 145 380 580 477.5 52.5 4.4 June 30 360 520 446.8 43.1 7.9 July 34 390 650 442.1 51.8 8.9 August 30 305 485 414.3 39.5 7.2 September 38 410 610 473.8 74.5 12.1 October 40 300 550 452.6 55.1 8.7 November 23 240 460 391.3 59.4 12.4 December 24 370 680 454.6 68.5 14.0 Total 620 240 680 448.0 60.9 2.4 Adults are taken primarily by gill net and hook and line, and make up a substantial part ofthe rockfish commercialcatch offCalifornia (Eschmeyeret al. 1983, Love 1996). In the San Quintin, Baja California region, the vermilion rockfish is the most common fish species found in the recreational fishing industry. In our 2005 fish study, the vermilion rockfish was recorded in all months, with a peak catch from March to May,just after the storm season. The decrease in vermilion rockfish from June to September occurs as 19% n= 620 individuals Mean 448mm + 2.4 SE 16% ~ 13% >- O w 10% =o> LU VL "- 6% 3% =l 0% 240 280 320 360 400 440 480 520 5G0 600 640 680 TOTAL LENGTH (mm) Fig. 2. Total length (mm) distribution (20 mm TL class) of vermilion rockfish from recreational fishing at San Quintin, B.C., Mexico. i 30 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 35 WINTER, n= 156 30 Mean: 422.2mm+ 3.8 SE 25 0£ LU 20 GO 15 Z 10 5H 220 260 300 340 380 420 460 500 540 580 620 45 SPRING, n= 275 40 E 35 Mean: 466.9mm+ 3.5 SE LU 30 !g 25 3 20 Z 15 10 5 220 260 300 340 380 420 460 500 540 580 620 26 24 SUMMER, n= 101 22 20 Mean: 444.3mm + 6.1 SE aS: 18 16 en 14 ^ 12 3 10 z^ 8 6 4 2 — t 1— r 1 1 1 1 220 260 300 340 380 420 460 500 540 580 620 20 18- FALL, n= 87 Mean: 437mm+ 7.0 SE LU 14 £0 12 §10H Z 8 6- 4- 2 220 260 300 340 380 420 460 500 540 580 620 TOTAL LENGTH (mm) Fig. 3. Seasonal size distribution (20 mm TL class) ofvermilion rockfish from recreational fishingat San Quintin, B.C., Mexico. VERMILION ROCKFISH FROM SAN QUINTIN RECREATIONAL FISHING 31 fisherman turn to big pelagic fishes such as yellowtail, albacore, dorado, yellowfm tuna, barracuda, and marlin. Small vessels comprise the recreational fishing fleet of San Quintin. It is strongly influenced by weather conditions, and this should be considered since there was a small number offishing trips. With respect to the limits offish caught, only six ofthe 71 boats landed the bigger numbers (31 to 48) of vermilion rockfishes at San Quintin, and considering that boats are rented by two to four anglers, the fish numbers per fisherman are lesser (6.0 ± 0.6 SE) than the mean number per boat (14.5 vermilions per boat). Vermilion rockfish mature at about 310 mm TL (Love et al. 1990). In the San Quintin mm catch, five individuals were caught under this length (240, 250, 260, 300 and 305 TL) only, and the first three individuals registered in November. This may be due to the recruitment of subadults to the adult habitats or population. In Baja California, the rockfishes are important part of the commercial nearshore fishing (Rosales-Casian and Gonzalez-Camacho 2003), in the recreational fishing were not recorded among the first ten fish species caught. However, it was taken with a frequency of occurrence of 60% among all boats surveyed (Rodriguez-Medrano 1993). Rockfish are also common fish species found at the Ensenada Seafood Market (Hernandez-Hernandez 2002). The recreational fishing at San Quintin, B.C., can be considered a healthy fishery by the reduced number of boat trips and the number of vermilion rockfish per boat landed. Practically, in 2005 almost all vermilion rockfishes were adult (>310-mm LT), with only five individuals under the first maturity size, and with a suitable annual mean size of448 mm LT. Acknowledgments Thanks to Rubi Ruz-Cruz for her technical assistance during the monitoring visits to San Quintin. This study was financed with internal funds of CICESE. Literature Cited California Department ofFish and Game. 2005. Review ofsome California fisheries for 2004: Coastal pelagic finfish, market squid, sea urchin, lobster, spot and ridgeback prawn, groundfish, highly migratory species, ocean salmon, nearshore live-fish, pacific herring, and recreational. CalCOFI Rep., 46:10-31. Eschmeyer, W.N., E.S. Herald, and H. Hammann. 1983. A field guide to Pacific Coast fishes ofNorth America. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, Massachusetts. 336 pp. Hernandez-Hernandez, A. 2002. Composition especifica de los peces escama comercializados en el Mercado de Mariscos del Puerto de Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. 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California Department ofFish and Game. University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. Sea Grant Publication, SG01-11: 189-190, 591 pp. Accepted for publication 20 August 2007.