Please spare Area 2C!

The International Pacific Halibut Commission has posted proposals for this year's catch limits.

Of particular note is a proposal from a group of fishing associations and processors who say, in part: "Reductions in Area 2C catch limits are not justified by current data or trends."

Area 2C encompasses Southeast Alaska.

Read the full proposal here.

The commission will consider the proposals and set the year's catch limits at its annual meeting Jan. 23-27 in Victoria, British Columbia.

Calling all halibut proposals

The International Pacific Halibut Commission is accepting proposals for the 2014 season.

Click here to read the proposals submitted so far.

As you can see, quite a few Western Alaska residents really, really want an increase in the Area 4E catch limit.

367 brilliant ideas

Here's the proposal book for upcoming meetings of the Alaska Board of Fisheries.

This meeting cycle includes statewide Pacific cod, Chignik finfish, Lower Cook Inlet finfish, Kodiak finfish, Upper Cook Inlet finfish, and statewide king and Tanner crab.

Obviously, the marquee meeting is Upper Cook Inlet finfish. Should be a real cage match, as always.

Deckboss spent a couple of hours this morning looking over the proposal book, which packs 367 offerings.

Here's a quick and rather random sampler:

Proposal 45 — Require 100 percent observer coverage on groundfish trawl vessels in state waters of the Cook Inlet, Kodiak and Chignik management areas. Sponsor: Alaska Marine Conservation Council and others.

Proposal 52 — Prohibit catch-and-release fishing for salmon in all Cook Inlet fresh waters. Sponsor: Central Peninsula Fish and Game Advisory Committee.

Proposal 126 — Prohibit permit stacking in the commercial set and drift gillnet fisheries in Upper Cook Inlet. Sponsor: Kenai River Sportfishing Association.

Proposal 285 — Prohibit dipnetting from boats in the Kenai River personal use fishery. Sponsor: United Cook Inlet Drift Association.

Proposal 348 — Increase harvest limit for Aleutian Islands golden king crab. Sponsor: Golden King Crab Coalition.

Check out the proposal book for more details on these and other proposals. The book also has meeting dates and locations.

Are circle hooks the only way to go for halibut?

Today is the deadline for submitting proposals for regulatory changes to the International Pacific Halibut Commission.

The Seattle-based agency has posted the proposals it has received thus far. Check them out here.

Deckboss finds this one pretty interesting. It would make circle hooks the only legal gear in directed halibut fisheries, including commercial and charter fisheries.

The proposal says in part:

Halibut tend to swallow J hooks which can be impossible to remove without damaging the fish and treble hooks are very difficult to remove from a live fish and tend to catch in the gills and cause heavy bleeding. The circle hook is most likely to hook in the harder parts of the mouth just inside the jaw, cause little bleeding and is easily removed. The purpose of this regulation is to increase survivability among fish that are caught and released for whatever reason.