Monday, March 31, 2008

April fools!!!!!!

April 1st could mark the beginning of the end of the sport fishing halibut charter industry in Alaska.
The North Pacific Fisheries Management Council will decide the fate of many a small business person’s future by putting permanent restrictions on the number of halibut caught by guided sport fishermen. Currently, the statewide catch for guided sport halibut is approximately six million lbs. This is a significant number until we consider the commercial longline catch of 54 million pounds. And consider the total commercial fishing "wastage" of over 13 million pounds of halibut and over 248 million pounds of total resource wastage in the Alaska wide commercial fishery in 2005. All these numbers add up to a totally skewed council process that encourages a conflict of interest to be a council member. Most of the council members are commercial fisherman from the west coast or their surrogates. They would rather waste tons of halibut as "Bycatch", before they allow the guided sport fisherman a chance to catch a sport fish and enjoy a home cooked delight. The NPFMC has no interest in any sport user group and view them as a nuisance. It is time for us all to do something about the horrible wastage going on in our magnificent fisheries resource. Just say "no" to the restriction of guided sport caught halibut and say "yes" to the end of wastage. . I think we should allow sportfishermen to determine the amount of fish they need ‘before " wastage is allowed for, not after.
I am a charter operator out of Homer and would like the same representation at the council as my commercial neighbors.
The NPFMC meeting is ongoing this week at the Anchorage Hilton. The agenda is @http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc/Agendas/408agenda.pdf

3 comments:

mark said...

Nobody likes bycatch, not even clean commercial fishers. We have to bear in mind that many commercials bought into their fishery like Scott, Greg, Don, Brian,and many more should have. The commercial guys are not the ones who ruined our fishery. Always remember that Scott, Greg, Don, Brian, and their ilk ARE! Que sara, sara, but that fact will never change. Whatever you think we should do from this point forward, Gary.

Anonymous said...
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mark said...

I must have raised a hackle for you to delete the guy's comment! On a lighter note, I saw a guy in the Gear Shed today wearing a shirt that said; "Charter fishing - How gay is that?" I told him he was probably latent and referred him to Mike Coates. He agreed.