Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Area 2C and Area 3A Guideline Harvest Level Motion

NORTH PACIFIC FISHERY MANAGEMENT COUNCIL
Area 2C and Area 3A Guideline Harvest Level Motion
April 1, 2007
draft
Area 2C GHL Management Measures
Alternative 1. No action
Alternative 2. Implement one or more of the following management measures to reduce charter halibut
harvests to the Guideline Harvest Level.
Option 1. No more than one trip per vessel per day.
Option 2. No harvest by skipper and crew; line limits (number of lines = numbers of clients).
Option 3. Annual limits of four or five or six fish per angler
Option 4. Reduced bag limits of one fish per day for May, June, July, August, September, or the entire
season.
Option 5. A two fish bag limit with one fish any size and one fish larger than 45” or 50”.
Option 6. A two fish bag limit with one fish any size and one fish less than 32 inches.
Option 7. A two fish bag limit with one fish any size and one fish either less than 32” or greater than
45”or 50”.
Option 8. Combination of Options 1, 2, & 5 (one trip; skipper/crew; trophy 2nd fish)
Option 9. Combination of Options 1, 2, & 6 (one trip; skipper/crew; <32” 2nd fish)
Option 10. Combination of Options 1, 2, & 7 (one trip; skipper/crew; <32” or trophy 2nd fish)
Option 11. Combination of Options 1, 2, 3, & 5 (one trip; skipper/crew; annual limits; trophy 2nd fish)
Option 12. Combination of Options 1, 2, 3, & 6 (one trip; skipper/crew; annual limits; <32” 2nd fish)
Option 13. Combination of Options 1, 2, 3, & 7 (one trip; skipper/crew; annual limits; <32” or trophy
2nd fish)
Three options were considered and rejected for future action: 1) Closing the season after August 15,
Sept 1, or Sept 15; 2) Closing one or more days of the week to halibut fishing; and 3) A minimum size
limit of 32 inches.
The Council requested that staff compare options relative to status quo (Alt 1) and Option 6 (NMFS
preferred alternative for 2007) and discuss the possibility that the GHL step down provisions may be
triggered in 2008 as a result of a reduced CEY in Area 2C. This is to inform the public that the Council
may choose to select management measures to achieve a harvest of either the current GHL of 1.432 M
lbs or the step down of 1.217 M lbs for Area 2C.
Area 3A GHL Management Measures
Alternative 1. No action
Alternative 2. Implement one or more of the following management measures to reduce charter halibut
harvests to the Guideline Harvest Level.
Option 1. No more than one trip per vessel per day.
Option 2. No harvest by skipper and crew; line limits (number of lines = numbers of clients).
Option 3. Limits of four or five or six fish per angler.
Option 4. Reduced bag limits of one fish per day for May, June, July, August, or the entire season.
Option 5. A two fish bag limit with one fish any size and one fish larger than 45” or 50”.
Option 6. A two fish bag limit with one fish any size and one fish less than 32”, 34”, or 36”.
Option 7. A two fish bag limit with one fish any size and one fish less than 32” or larger than 45” or
50”.

1 comment:

mark said...

Given enough food and time, a 21" fish means the same to our future as a 41" fish. Any maximum size restriction is derived at through ignorance or, worse, deceit. The idea of slot limits, though suredly appealing to those that can't fish, is morally repugnant in its hypocrisy and such an equalizer as to take much of the fun in fishing away from those that can. Minimum size restrictions would do far more to clean things up but there is the mortality issue ( partially addressed by barbless hooks ) and they have apparently already thrown this out. One trip a day limits, though they sound self serving and I don't think are fair to our friends in Deep Creek, would do more to stop the carnage in Homer than any other single thing. A minimum size larger than the typical half-day fish would do the same thing. 32" would spell the end of half-days in Homer. Those boats would have to compete with day boats and carry fewer passengers and catch less than half the fish. We're talking a 4,000 fish savings just in getting rid of half-days! Some new guys are going to drop out when they learn they aren't getting a windfall. I think Scott has finally milked the last fish from some of my favorite spots, so he'll turn in fewer fish. With more stability in the fishery, those prone to catching chalky fish will start to care more about the future of the industry and perhaps not throw that nasty thing in the box and race for home and maybe come home a couple fish short. Something that is going to come up is the idea that we should release big ones so they can spawn ( not as good to eat, and all that rot) which I will respond to with BULL and if you think people are going to buy million dollar condos and fly here from Germany knowing they can't catch a two hundred pounder, you're a new guy. If you would like to debate me on this, fine, but you are a new guy and will lose. Another is the idea of barbless hooks. This is probably going to be presented to us as a silver bullet but I've been using them for years and they actually increase my catch (you'll see when you crimp your barbs and try them yourself ). Let them happen and they might buy us some time and you'll like using them. If all things are considered this fishery doesn't look so bad ( as long as the fish show up ) and in a few years we will be back on track.