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Most of the recreational "take" is actually from catch and release calculations. Very sketchy at best. I think they use an 8 % number, but this is very water temp and hook location dependent (bait and J hooks is the worst).
A large percentage of the recreational take is also due to charter boats. Obviously these guys have better success than most amateurs, they also are far more likely to get surveyed by dockside monitors (since the charter guys are out everyday). I don't know for certain, but it wouldn't surprise me if the recreational catch rate is skewed based on over sampling of charter boats and using their success rate per hour fished as a guide to what others do.
I do know that for the harbors I am familiar with, the charter and commercial fishery accounts for a MUCH larger percentage of the fish landed than the rest of us recreational schmucks.
These fish population estimates also bother me. The numbers themselves are very soft (the head biologists admit the margin of error may be 50%). Yes, I know people claim there are plenty of fish, just that they are all offshore. To which I would say, "So what?". The ONLY population that matters to most fisherman are the fish they can access. THAT population is in dire straits, and long past the point where more protection is warranted.
For those of us in our 50's, what we have now is going to be the large fish we hope to target in the final 15-20 years of our fishing lives. That prospect is not very encouraging. I don't, therefore, care who feels they are being cheated......I want these fish protected and I don't care one bit if it takes the legislature to do it.
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