Question about Duxbury Reef SMCA

Below is an email I sent to state wildlife, haven't heard back. Maybe some folks on here can help. Also if spearfishing around duxbury reef is a bad idea regardless of regulations, please let me know.

"""
Boundary: This area is bounded by the mean high tide line, a distance of 1000 feet seaward of mean lower low water, and the following points:
...
Permitted/Prohibited Uses:

It is unlawful to injure, damage, take, or possess any living, geological, or cultural marine resource for recreational and/or commercial purposes, with the following specified exceptions:
The recreational take of finfish from shore and abalone* is allowed.
"""


Hi,
I am new to spearfishing in CA and I have a few questions about the Duxbury Reef State Marine Conservation Area.

1. The description says "the recreational take of finfish from shore.. is allowed". If I am spearfishing off the shore without a kayak and just swimming out in the water, is that considered "from shore"? Or does "from shore" mean you have to physically be on the shore with a rod and reel? It sounds like maybe I am allowed to spearfish here inside of the blue area on the map

2. If I am in a kayak that I launch from the beach/shore there, is that no longer considered "off shore"?

3. Am I correct in understanding that if I am more than 1000 feet from the shoreline then I am outside of this SMCA (blue area) and the limits of the SMCA no longer apply? I think the SMCA doesn't limit recreational spearfishing which is what I am doing so perhaps this question is moot?

If you help me understand more in general what type of spear fishing is and isn't allowed in and around this SMCA that would be great.
Thank you,
Ezra

Hey Ezra,

I might advise skipping this particular area/reef for spearfishing. It is very open to swell, wind, current, viz is typically questionable and is a particularly popular area for white sharks.

I'm not one for telling anyone where or where not to go spearfishing, but I'd skip that spot, there's better options within a couple hours of Oakland. Just my 2 cents having grown in the area.

As for the regs, I think it's technically legal, but can't confirm that. I would defer to more informed folks.

Good luck!

I agree with Soleman. The visibility is usually very poor right around Duxbury Reef, and it’s a rather hazardous area (random breaking waves around the reef and surrounding pinnacles).

It’s also just not a very great rockfish/lingcod spot if you ask me. I pick up the occasional RF/lingcod while trolling for salmon in that area, (and I have a few spots where I can consistently pick up a couple fish for dinner), but it’s a usually a slow pick.

I suggest looking elsewhere.


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1.  You have to be physically standing on shore or at least standing in the surf.  Once you start swimming or “leave” the shore, then it’s prohibited until you pass the 1000ft boundary line.

2.  Same as 1. 

3.  DFG says recreational “take”.  This includes fishing by line and spear.  If you launch from shore and start your recreational take past the 1000ft boundary line, then you’re clear.  However, you’ll likely have to kayak back in thru the SMCA, which you may need to prove you didn’t take any fin fish within the SMCA (with photos, gps, etc) if a wildlife officer checks you out when you land. 

i agree with all the above. it is the open ocean as far as im concerned.

Thanks all for the replies. The advice is appreciated. I will heed it and look go elsewhere. Cheers.

1.  You have to be physically standing on shore or at least standing in the surf.  Once you start swimming or “leave” the shore, then it’s prohibited until you pass the 1000ft boundary line.

2.  Same as 1. 

3.  DFG says recreational “take”.  This includes fishing by line and spear.  If you launch from shore and start your recreational take past the 1000ft boundary line, then you’re clear.  However, you’ll likely have to kayak back in thru the SMCA, which you may need to prove you didn’t take any fin fish within the SMCA (with photos, gps, etc) if a wildlife officer checks you out when you land. 

You got any regs to substantiate that? This is actually an interesting question.

Shore Fishing (CCR Title 14, Section(a)(12))
Take from shore, or shore fishing, means take of living marine resources from shore, including beaches, banks, piers, jetties, breakwaters, docks, and other man-made structures connected to the shore. Unless specifically authorized in individual MPA regulations, no vessel, watercraft (motorized or non-motorized), or floating device may be used to assist in the take, transport or possession of species taken while shore fishing, except that a float tube or similar flotation device may be used when taking abalone only.

Abalone and float tubes are explicitly mentioned in that regulation, and angling is not, so it's probably implied that skindiving is included.

I’m not referencing from the general DFG rules. 
I quoted from the rules specific for Duxberry off the DFG and wildlife website.

I’m not referencing from the general DFG rules. 
I quoted from the rules specific for Duxberry off the DFG and wildlife website.

Link?

... you’ll likely have to kayak back in thru the SMCA, which you may need to prove you didn’t take any fin fish within the SMCA (with photos, gps, etc) if a wildlife officer checks you out when you land.

I noticed some of the ‘location’ restrictions I have seen for Calif also include ‘possession’ restrictions. “Can’t fish for xyz or possess it in this area”, that kind of thing, prevents any question of whether the fish was taken in the restricted zone. If possession is an issue for the area the op is interested in, coming back through the 1000-ft no-fishing zone with otherwise legally taken fish could prove problematic.

You can't spearfish in the SMCA.
You can't swim out from shore and still be taking fish "from shore".
You can't kayak out from shore and still be taking fish "from shore". 
You can transit the SMCA in a vessel with fish on board but you cannot have any lines out.

You can't spearfish in the SMCA.

It's a triviality, but the wording for this particular reserve is strange compared to other reserves, and that was the point I was getting at. How come the regs specify method of take from shore in the other reserves?

Dux

a. The recreational take of finfish* from shore and abalone** is allowed.

Greyhound

a. The recreational take of giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) by hand
harvest only, market squid, salmon, and, by hook-and-line from
shore only, other finfish* is allowed.

Swamis

1. Recreational take by hook and line from shore is allowed.

Shore Fishing (CCR Title 14, Section(a)(12))
Take from shore, or shore fishing, means take of living marine resources from shore, including beaches, banks, piers, jetties, breakwaters, docks, and other man-made structures connected to the shore. Unless specifically authorized in individual MPA regulations, no vessel, watercraft (motorized or non-motorized), or floating device may be used to assist in the take, transport or possession of species taken while shore fishing, except that a float tube or similar flotation device may be used when taking abalone only.

How come the regs include abalone + float tubes in the MLPA shore fishing definition? Rock pickers?

Because you can use a cast net or an a-frame.

]

Shore Fishing (CCR Title 14, Section(a)(12))
Take from shore, or shore fishing, means take of living marine resources from shore, including beaches, banks, piers, jetties, breakwaters, docks, and other man-made structures connected to the shore. Unless specifically authorized in individual MPA regulations, no vessel, watercraft (motorized or non-motorized), or floating device may be used to assist in the take, transport or possession of species taken while shore fishing, except that a float tube or similar flotation device may be used when taking abalone only.

How come the regs include abalone + float tubes in the MLPA shore fishing definition? Rock pickers?

They make clear that you can’t use a boat/kayak to access some otherwise inaccessible part of the shore to fish from shore then transport the fish back. 

How come the regs include abalone + float tubes in the MLPA shore fishing definition? Rock pickers?

There's also the extra FINE print you need a magnifying glass to see.

Duxbury PDF
*Finfish are defined here as any species of bony fish or cartilaginous fish (sharks, skates and rays).
**Note: The recreational abalone fishery is closed until April, 2026.