Big catches mask big decline in sea bass
LOS ANGELES -- As reliably as masses of sea bass gather off the Southern California coast each summer, boatloads of anglers arrive to reel them in.
But their bountiful catches are an illusion, scientists say.
The populations of kelp bass and barred sand bass, two of the most popular - and easy to catch - saltwater fishes in Southern California, have plummeted 90 percent since 1980, according to a study led by a researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego.
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But sport-fishing boats have been able to keep their catch rates high in part because they have consistently targeted bustling offshore spawning grounds, masking the dwindling numbers with an "illusion of plenty," the study concluded.
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