Do released halibut survive?

The International Pacific Halibut Commission is looking to conduct a recreational discard mortality study.

Halibut catch sharing plan stirs opposition

The National Marine Fisheries Service is taking public comment until Aug. 12 on the proposed halibut catch sharing plan.

As expected, the plan is drawing considerable opposition. And the opposition has succeeded in sinking past attempts to end Alaska's halibut war.

Deckboss yesterday saw the above advertisement on an Alaska news site. Clicking on the ad took me here, where we learn that halibut charter operators are lining up lawyers, lobbyists and donations to try to block the catch sharing plan.

The plan would establish a clear allocation of halibut between the rival charter and commercial fleets.

To supporters, the plan would settle the rivalry, allow enough halibut for both sectors, and protect fish stocks.

To opponents, the catch sharing plan means charter anglers "will have their halibut taken away and then offered back to them, for rent."

Tony Weaver, a sportfishing columnist for the Anchorage Daily News, yesterday offered his take on the plan.

He urges the sportfishing masses to oppose it, saying: "I don't want to end up getting my halibut at Costco."

Any comeback, commercial guys?

Southeast charter anglers get 'trophy' opportunity

The National Marine Fisheries Service today announced the rules for charter halibut anglers this season.

In Area 2C (Southeast Alaska), the one-fish daily bag limit stays in effect. Retained halibut can't exceed 45 inches in length. An exception, however, allows anglers to keep "trophy" fish greater than 68 inches.

In Area 3A (Southcentral Alaska), the rules are the same as last year: Charter anglers may keep two fish of any size per day.

A concise assessment

This letter to the editor in Sunday's Anchorage Daily News captures perfectly, it seems to me, the situation the commercial halibut industry faces in its perennial struggle with the competing charter halibut fleet.

First, allocate by half and half

When the halibut are allocated on a 50-50 basis between the sport fishery and the commercial fishery, then there should be talk about reducing the sport catch.

— Greg Svendsen, Anchorage

Alaska Legislature schedules a halibut hearing

The House Special Committee on Fisheries is scheduled to meet at 1 p.m. Sept. 1 in Anchorage for an "overview hearing on Pacific halibut management."

Presumably, the hearing will focus heavily on the catch sharing plan the federal government is considering to allocate halibut between the commercial and charter boat sectors.

State Rep. Steve Thompson, R-Fairbanks, chairs the committee. Other members are listed here.

Limited entry stands for halibut charter boats

A Washington, D.C., judge has denied a motion for a preliminary injunction against new federal regulations limiting the number of halibut charter boats in Southeast and Southcentral Alaska (Areas 2C and 3A).

The judge's order was entered today.

Here's the background on this.

Is 37-inch halibut rule about to be scuttled?

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council, meeting in Anchorage this morning, is expected to discuss a possible move to relax the new 37-inch size limit on halibut retained by charter boat anglers in Southeast Alaska (Area 2C).

More details later today.

Disqualified halibut charter operators sue feds

Charter Operators of Alaska, a Homer-based nonprofit, today sued the federal government in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

The lawsuit seeks to undo new regulations limiting the number of halibut charter boats in Southeast Alaska (Area 2C) and Southcentral Alaska (Area 3A).

Here's a press release from Charter Operators of Alaska.

Halibut opens tomorrow; 2C charter catch limited

Can you believe it? Another halibut season is upon us with the 2011 fishery starting at noon tomorrow.

The season last eight months, closing at noon Nov. 18.

Here are the catch limits by regulatory area.

Be safe and good fishing, everybody.

In a related note, the National Marine Fisheries Service today announced it will implement controversial measures to control halibut catches on charter boats in Southeast Alaska (Area 2C).

Specifically, charter clients will continue to face a one-fish daily bag limit. A new twist this year is that keepers can be no more than 37 inches long.

Charter operators say a 37-inch halibut weighs around 23 pounds.

Here's the NMFS press release:

March 11, 2011

Halibut stock decline forces increased charter measures

The National Marine Fisheries Service today announced it is implementing the regulatory recommendations of the International Pacific Halibut Commission due to concerns over declining halibut stocks. These regulations include limiting the maximum size of a halibut caught by charter anglers in Southeast Alaska to 37 inches, and retaining the one-fish-per-person-per-day rule that began in 2009.

The halibut stock is declining due to reduced numbers of fish reaching a catchable size range, lower growth rates, and higher than target harvest rates. The stock remains at risk of further declines. Conservation of the halibut resource is the primary concern and management objective of the measures.

At its annual meeting in January, the IPHC recommended the maximum size rule for charter anglers in Southeast (Area 2C) as a way to maintain charter harvests at the annual guideline harvest level of 788,000 pounds in 2011. The Southeast charter fleet catch has exceeded its harvest level every year since 2004.

The IPHC's recommendation is based on the analysis and methods adopted by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. Because of particular concerns for impacts on small businesses in Southeast, NMFS intends to ask the council to review the methodology used to determine maximum size limits, including a 42-inch limit. If the council chooses to adopt a different limit than the IPHC has recommended, NMFS will go back to the IPHC to ask that it modify its recommendation to match that of the council.

"The declining halibut stock is impacting both charter and commercial halibut fishers all along the West Coast from Washington state to Alaska," said James Balsiger, NMFS administrator for Alaska.

NMFS is committed to working cooperatively with Canada to jointly manage the halibut stock "for the long-term benefit of both our countries," Balsiger said.

NMFS has implemented numerous restrictions on the Area 2C charter fleet in an attempt to more closely align charter harvest with the limit, but those measures have been insufficient. Even with the one-fish bag limit in 2010, the charter halibut fleet exceeded its harvest limit by 491,000 pounds, or 62 percent. Each year that the charter fleet exceeds its harvest limit, it leads to a lower fixed quota for the commercial fishery the following year. The commercial catch limit in Area 2C is 73 percent lower in 2011 than it was in 2003.

The purpose of the rule is to allow charter halibut fishermen to continue their operations while staying within the harvest limit, and minimizing adverse effects on the charter fishery, its sportfishing clients, and the coastal communities that serve as home ports for the fishery. Allowing halibut to rebuild will best serve the economic interests of both the charter and commercial fisheries over the long term.

The harvest limit was adopted by the NPFMC and implemented by NMFS in 2003. It is expected to be replaced by a catch-sharing plan in 2012, which would establish management measures designed to prevent overharvesting of the halibut resource and result in a sustainable fishery.

New loan funds for charters, mariculture proposed

Gov. Sean Parnell yesterday offered some interesting legislation for state lawmakers in Juneau to consider.

Introduced as Senate Bill 67 and House Bill 121, the legislation would establish a "commercial charter fisheries revolving loan fund" and a "mariculture revolving loan fund" within the state Department of Commerce.

These new funds would be capitalized initially with $5 million and $3 million respectively.

In a letter to legislative leaders, Parnell said mariculturists, who grow shellfish, have extremely limited access to start-up capital "because of the time needed for crop development and market readiness."

With respect to charter operators, Parnell cites the halibut charter fleet's impending shift to limited entry.

Beginning Feb. 1, charter operators in Southeast Alaska (Area 2C) and Southcentral Alaska (Area 3A) will need to have a new federal charter halibut permit onboard.

As with past Alaska fishery conversions to limited entry, we're hearing an outcry from marginal players who applied but didn't qualify for permits, which are awarded based on past participation in the fishery.

Or course, those who don't qualify for a free permit from the government can now buy one on the open market. And Parnell is looking to help them with that.

In his letter to the legislative leadership, the governor assets that the federal government's denial of up to 40 percent of permit applications will have the effect of "escalating permit prices."

SB 67 and HB 121 would authorize the Department of Commerce to make loans not only for buying charter halibut permits, but for the purchase or construction of charter fishing vessels.

Parnell said the charter loan fund would be similar to the state's existing commercial fishing revolving loan fund, which he characterized as "highly successful."

It appears that loans would be limited to $100,000, with a $300,000 cap on a borrower's total outstanding loan balances.

Only Alaska residents would be eligible for mariculture or charter loans.

NMFS wins halibut charter case

A federal judge today declared the National Marine Fisheries Service the winner in a lawsuit some halibut charter boat operators were pressing to try to invalidate a new rule holding charter anglers in Southeast Alaska (Area 2C) to a bag limit of one fish per day instead of two.

This is a victory not only for NMFS, but for commercial halibut longliners who believe the one-fish rule is badly needed to control the growth of the charter catch in a region where halibut abundance has been declining.

Judge Rosemary Collyer, by the way, previously had blocked the rule temporarily at the request of the charter operators.

Here's the judge's opinion.

What's next for charter halibut case?

Now that a federal judge has declined to block the one-fish rule, tourists and other anglers who go fishing on halibut charter boats in Southeast Alaska (Area 2C) will have to settle for one keeper a day instead of two, effective yesterday.

Now the lawsuit six charter boat operators are pressing against the federal government moves to trial.

"The trial on the merits of the case will likely commence in July," the Halibut Coalition said in a press release Thursday.

The coalition includes commercial halibut fishermen, processors and others who support the one-fish rule as a way to control the growing charter catch halibut in Southeast. That catch ultimately eats away at commercial catch quotas.

Thursday's ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer of Washington, D.C., was particularly interesting because a year ago she granted the charter plaintiffs an injunction blocking the one-fish rule.

She hasn't yet issued a written opinion, but evidently she feels the National Marine Fisheries Service has patched up leaks in the rule since the agency first attempted to impose it.

Court clash Thursday in charter halibut case

Federal Judge Judge Rosemary M. Collyer of Washington, D.C., is scheduled to hear oral argument at 2 p.m. ET Thursday in the charter halibut case (Deckboss, May 22 and 26).

Lawyers for the federal government will try to defend a new regulation, to take effect Friday, that will cut the daily bag limit for charter boat anglers in Southeast Alaska (Area 2C) from two fish to one.

The government says the charter catch has grown to the point that it's causing a conservation concern in Southeast, where halibut abundance has been declining.

A group of charter boat owners and operators, however, is suing the government in a bid to sink the one-fish rule. They argue the rule is an unfair allocation hit against the charter fleet, and note that commercial fishermen, not charter boats, catch the bulk of halibut in Southeast.

The plaintiffs are asking the judge for an injunction to block the one-fish rule. That's the subject of Thursday's hearing.

The charter operators prevailed last year, when the National Marine Fisheries Service first tried to impose the one-fish bag limit.

Will the charter guys beat the regulators again?

Deckboss reckons it'll be only a matter of hours after Thursday's hearing before we see the judge's ruling.