Results of the 1972 skindiving assessment survey, Pismo Beach to Oregon

Abstract

A skindiving survey was conducted from January throughDecember 1972 to estimate number of divers, diving days,hourly effort and animals taken from Pismo Beach to Oregon.Comparisons were made with estimates of the 1960 skindivingsurvey. A total of 15,030 divers were interviewed at 33locations from Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo County, to theOregon border. The number of indiv1dual divers increasedfrom 2,200 in 1960 to 11,800 in 1972. Diving days increasedfrom 37,782 to 95,194. Over 50% of all diving was in theMonterey - Carmel area. Most diving hours were spent intraining, followed by abalone diving, observing, spearfishing, and photography. Totals of 82,174 abalones and 24,089 fishes were taken. Lingcod were the most abundant fish speared followed by blue rockfish and cabezon. Spearfishing dropped significantly in effort since 1960 and training and observing greatly increased. The take of abalones, urchins, crabs, and clams virtually disappeared from Point Estero to Seaside, the foraging range of the sea otter. The number of abalones taken increased outside the sea otter's range. (Document has 63 pages)