Cod Fishing Halted In Agate Pass Area Through March 31

State fisheries officials have called a halt to true-cod fishing in the Agate Pass area.

Citing a swift and baffling crash in the number of true cod that spawn during the winter in Agate Pass, State Fisheries Director Joe Blum said the emergency closure is necessary to protect what few cod remain in the area.

``It is not possible at this stage to pinpoint the reasons for the dramatic decline of this cod stock, which has fallen from a peak in 1981 to a population too low to measure,'' said Blum. Biologists say climate changes and overfishing may be responsible in part for the decline, he said.

During winter in the early 1980s, up to 8,000 anglers fished the pass, a narrow waterway between Bainbridge Island and the Kitsap Peninsula, catching up to 33,000 true cod during the season.

Most fishing was concentrated near the Kitsap Peninsula shoreline a few hundred yards south of the Agate Pass Bridge.

However, the closure, which will remain in effect for both sports and commercial cod fishing through March 31, encompasses a much broader area. It includes all water south and west of a line from Point Monroe to the Indianola Pier and north and east of a line almost due south from Point Bolin on the Kitsap Peninsula to Battle Point on Bainbridge Island.

The department also has proposed a winter cod fishing closure for the area in 1992.

Meanwhile, the Department of Fisheries has announced that the

International Pacific Halibut Commission, meeting this week in Vancouver, B.C., approved 1991 recreational halibut seasons for Washington waters, exactly as proposed by the department.

The seasons, by area:

-- Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound - May 4-June 16, closed Tuesdays; June 22-June 30, Saturday and Sundays only. Daily bag limit 2; No size limit. Allowable catch: 34,021 pounds.

-- Washington north coast - Daily May 1 until 55,000 pounds caught; July 5 Fridays and Saturdays only with a cap of 8,000 pounds; Aug. 30 daily for 1,590 pounds. Any uncaught poundage will be added to next opener. Daily bag one; No size limit.

-- Washington south coast, northern Oregon - May 1-Sept. 30, seven days a week for catch projected at 4,327 pounds. Bag limit one; No size limit.

Notes

-- A pilot run of smelt entered the Cowlitz River yesterday, but the run appears to be too small so far for bank dipping.

-- Bob Everitt, a wildlife biologist, has been named supervisor of the Wildlife Department's Puget Sound regional office in Mill Creek. He succeeds Joan Keller, who has left the agency.

-- The Shikar-Safari Club has presented its Wildlife Officer of the Year Award to Bruce Richards, state wildlife agent stationed at Enumclaw.