>What evidence are they basing these closures on?

I don't know about this process, but most of the time, (and in the islands closures) most of the fish counts were gathered from how many fish are being taken by commercial and recreational boats. This is not an accurate fish count by any means. Say one fishery is doing better than another one, even though both fisheries are in good shape. Then the boats would target the better of the two, since that's where the fishing is. Judging by the fish counts, even though there's no count for that other species, the fishery is still doing very well. It's just not represented in the fish counts. Another example, and this was directly mentioned by an Oxnard dive boat operator at one of the meetings, is that for different areas, sometimes weather prohibits the fishing. Such as San Miguel. He said his favorite spot was at San Miguel, but he can hardly get there because of weather. Judging by his dive book, it would say that he rarely dives there, so there must not be much to look at (or many fish in the area) when it's actually the weather that keeps him from diving there more often. Long story short, there are no accurate fish counts at this time, and none are being conducted. So, if anybody tries to tell you (us) that an area is being depleted of fish, tell them what you think, because chances are, that we as fishermen know the area better than a chairman on a committee.

>Has the number of fish changed drastically recently?

Yes it has. White seabass and halibut have both had an excellent comeback up and down the coast due to the ban on gillnets on inshore waters. When I was at Hubb's the agreed completely with that. Also, due to their efforts at Hubb's, the white seabass are making an even stronger comeback. There really aren't that many species being targetted in Campus Point. The only ones I could think of would be halibut, white seabass, bass, and perhaps rockfish. The halibut and white seabass, as I just mentioned are making a very strong comeback (again, perhaps not evidence in fish counts because of other reasons...) and IMO do not need much, if any, change in the current regulations regarding them. Certainly not a closure. Calico bass and sandbass in the area are doing well also. There aren't many bass in that area, but there's also very little cover for them. There's not many stringers or kelp beds, or structure, but nonetheless, there are still bass in the area. The nearest place with actual structure (the pipe) has a very very healthy fishery of calico bass. Keep bringing up these kinds of questions guys, because like I said, this is just the beginning of things you'll "uncover". I could write for pages and pages and pages about alterior motives, and politics, and back room maps, and enviros, etc. For now however, it would probably just be in your best interest to look em up in the archives on allcoast. I post as calico2ber on that website. Just search the main board for MRWG meeting, SAC meeting, or Fishing Working Group meeting. You should get a nice feel for the way these types of things work.
-Brian