Friday, February 7, 2020

Halibut takes a dip

The International Pacific Halibut Commission today set a coastwide catch limit of 36.6 million pounds for this year.

That's a reduction of 5.2 percent from last year.

The commission set season dates of March 14 to Nov. 15.

The IPHC manages U.S. and Canadian halibut stocks. The bulk of the commercial catch comes from Alaska.

Here is the full slate of 2020 catch limits, by regulatory area, expressed in millions of pounds.

Regulatory area2019 catch limits2020 catch limits% change
2A1.651.65Same
2B6.836.83Same
2C6.345.85-7.7
3A13.512.2-9.6
3B2.93.12+7.6
4A1.941.75-9.8
4B1.451.31-9.7
4CDE4.03.9-2.5
TOTAL38.6136.6-5.2

Click here for a map of IPHC regulatory areas.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

So 2c takes another undeserved cut. Even though our cpue is stronger than other areas. We’re being used as a pressure relief valve for Canadian overharvest & trawler bycatch out west. What bullshit!

Anonymous said...

4:08 Don't stress the fishery is going to be driven down to zero eventually. Happened to crab, shrimp, and cod - its only a matter of time before halibut turns into a niche fishery. All the IPHC science is actually guessing.

Anonymous said...

It’s not just 2C it’s all of Alaska 10’s of millions of pounds have been transferred to Canada at the detriment of all of Alaska.
The US side has been schooled by Canada and to add insult to injury this is our resource not theirs.
This is our resource that our commissioners have given away.
Time to rethink our treaty with Canada,
Canada the partners that refuse to accept IPHC science, similar to the flat earth society!

Anonymous said...

Canada always wins because it has a trump card: the unconscionable waste associated with halibut bycatch.

Bycatch waste in Canada is virtually nothing. In Alaska, due to the high-dollar political interests who control the decisions of the North Pac Fish Council, we measure dead halibut pitched over the side of trawlers in the 10s of millions of pounds.

Until the United States has the guts to look in the mirror and fix its own problems, Canada will always hold the moral high ground to get a fat allocation of halibut.

Anonymous said...

Except you should hear those Canadian fisherman complain about their own halibut fishery........Why do you think they are in AK to do survey fishing!!