According to the new halibut catch limit Southeast commercial fishermen will be allotted 4.4 million pounds of the species this year. The international commission that manages the fishery announced the release of new halibut catch limit. The decision by the International Pacific Halibut Commission represents an increase of about 700,000 pounds over staff recommendations, but is still a reduction from last year’s catch.
Before the new catch limit the commercial fishermen had been facing a 26 percent cut. Southeast Alaska Fishermen’s Alliance Executive Director Kathy Hansen opined that most guys are probably pleased they didn’t get as large of a cut as they were expecting. Juneau fisherman Chris Knight said that’s true, but there’s also concern for a sustainable fishery. He hopes that catch limits continue to provide for a sustainable harvest of the halibut resource.
He told that further cut is unaffordable otherwise the industry will cease to exist. The Southeast commercial fleet’s allowable catch has gone down by more than half in five years, when the catch hovered around 10 million pounds. The IPHC, made up of three government-appointed commissioners from the United States and Canada, announced the catch limits Friday at an annual meeting in Seattle.
It is informed that the commercial quota is set by subtracting uses such as sport, subsistence and “bycatch” from the amount of fish scientists think should be harvested to sustain a healthy fishery. The commissioners voted 5-1 on the catch limits Friday. Juneau Charter Boat Association Spokesman Richard Yamada said that the decision to raise the commercial catch above staff recommendations came as a surprise.
