DFG will close the fishery because projections from landing receipts and dockside tabulation efforts indicate that commercial fishers will have reached this year’s allocation. DFG expects that by the closure date of Oct. 1 the annual commercial allocation of 59,300 pounds of cabezon will be taken for the 2005 calendar year.

Cabezon is a nearshore fish found mostly in California’s northern and central coastal areas. It is one of the most important species sought by fishermen in California’s live fish fishery. Approximately 50,000 pounds of commercial cabezon have been landed in 2005. Historically, catch rates increase throughout the summer.

In May 2002, the Fish and Game Commission adopted regulations authorizing DFG to close either or both of the recreational or commercial sectors of the cabezon, greenlings, and sheephead fisheries when DFG projects that fisheries will reach their allowable harvest levels.

Two-month cumulative trip limits for the commercial cabezon, greenlings, and sheephead fisheries went into effect in 2004 in order to sustain fisheries throughout the year. The cabezon fishery’s two month cumulative trip limit ranges from a low of 100 pounds of fish in the November/December period to a high of 900 pounds in the September/October period per nearshore permit holder.