As expected, there will be less halibut available for fishermen to catch this year – an 18 percent drop to 33 million pounds, to be split among fisheries along the West Coast, British Columbia and Alaska. That follows a 19 percent cut to the catch last year.
The announcement was made at the International Pacific Halibut Commission’s annual meeting this month in Anchorage. Alaska always gets the lion’s share of the catch, which this year will be 25.5 million pounds.
Driving the fishing decreases: Pacific halibut stocks continue a decade long decline, there appears to be little recruitment of fish entering the fishery, the fish are smaller than they should be at age – and, most troubling, scientists believe they have overestimated the halibut biomass for years.
Most stakeholders were accepting of the catch limits, but the overall mood was concern over the status of the halibut stocks, said Kathy Hansen, executive director of the Southeast Alaska Fishermen’s Alliance.
The 800-pound gorilla in the meeting room was the millions of pounds of halibut that is taken as bycatch in other Alaska fisheries and, by law, discarded. While the IPHC sets catch limits for the halibut fisheries, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council oversees the limits for halibut allowed to be taken as bycatch in federally managed fisheries.
“It’s a bit uncomfortable to be from Alaska where we supposedly have sustainable fisheries and the best management in the world,” Hansen said. “And we have the Pacific Council and Canada saying, ‘Hey, we’ve dealt with getting a better observer program, we’ve reduced bycatch significantly with new programs and what are you guys in Alaska doing?’ All we can say is the (North Pacific) Council is looking at things again.”
“It’s time for them to get serious and make some accommodations so we can say, yes, we are moving towards trying to identify how much bycatch is being taken in fisheries and reduce that amount.”
Five bycatch related motions were adopted by the IPHC Conference Board, a panel that includes 30 commercial and sport users from the U.S. and 21 from Canada “to give the fishers perspective,” according to the IPHC website.
“The Board believes that accurate accounting of all removals is critical for development of accurate stock assessment, and for understanding the health of the halibut resource and the exploitable biomass available to the directed fisheries,” it stated in the 2012 meeting minutes.
The Conference Board said it wants a report next January identifying areas that might be designated as nursery grounds, and assessing the future impacts on the stocks if those areas were closed to all taking of halibut. The Board also strongly recommended that federal managers implement the Restructured Observer Program in 2013.