The International Pacific Halibut Commission has made some recommendations of reducing halibut quotas in 2011, which irritates local fishing representatives. This recommendation is for Area 2C, the area the majority of Juneau fisheries collect from, is 2.33 million pounds. This same area’s 2010 catch limit was 4.4 million pounds.
Officials from both the catching and receiving ends of fishing see this as bad news. A local fisherman said that such cuts in quotas can come from a mixture of state, council, IPHC and other decisions, making it difficult to understand exactly why such cuts are made. He said it is indicative of structural problems within the IPHC.
It is for sure that as long as cuts are made, halibut money will get harder to acquire. Because this recommendation is about 20 percent what it was just five years ago, many fishermen have large loans used to purchase halibut quota and now the catch totals needed to pay those loans are difficult to come by.
Mike Erickson, chief executive officer of Alaska Glacier Seafoods, said that the Area 2C cuts plus those in Area 3A, where it also gets some fish from, will have a big negative impact on the company and employees because there will be less work to do. The International Pacific Halibut Commission did not return requests for comment by press time.
