Thursday, May 22, 2008

NOAA Reduces Halibut Catch for Southeast

NOAA Reduces Halibut Catch for Southeast Alaska Charter Anglers to Protect Stock NOAA’s Fisheries Service issued a new rule today that states starting June 1, charter vessel anglers in southeast Alaska will be allowed to keep one instead of two halibut per day. In addition, the number of lines used to fish for halibut must not exceed the number of anglers onboard the charter vessel, to a maximum of six lines. Also, guides and crew are not allowed to catch and retain halibut while clients are onboard.“These new regulations are needed because charter fishing has grown in southeast Alaska while the abundance of halibut has decreased,” said Doug Mecum, NOAA’s Fisheries Service Alaska region acting administrator. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council and NOAA’s Fisheries Service approved the new regulations to reduce the harvest of halibut to the new target level of 931,000 pounds in 2008 in the waters of southeast Alaska, which is International Pacific Halibut Commission Area 2C. The new regulations will remain in effect until further notice.While the target harvest for southeast Alaska in 2007 was 1.4 million pounds, the actual amount of halibut harvested by charter anglers was estimated at more than 1.7 million pounds.Sport anglers who are not aboard guided charter vessels may continue to keep two halibut of any size daily. Guided charter vessel anglers outside of Southeast Alaska may also continue to keep two halibut of any size per day.A regulation implemented earlier this year to assist enforcement officers to count the number of fish each angler possesses, says anglers can cut their halibut on board into not more than two ventral and two dorsal pieces and two cheeks, all with the skin on.NOAA’s Fisheries Service received many comments on the proposed regulations for the charter vessel fishery. A summary of those comments and the agency’s responses will be published with the final regulations, which will be at http://www.alaskafisheries.noaa.gov

2 comments:

mark said...

Great. This is just great. Everbody that supported the ACA, the Homer Chamber, the Homer City Council - Do you think that if Homer was unified in calling for IFQ in '05 we would be about to lose everything now? No, If we were unified and adamant, Stevens wouldn't have let us down, Rasmus wouldn't have been able to pull off his little scam and Penny would be just the butt of jokes like, well... Penny.
If we get the shot again boys, let's not let it get away!

mark said...

Anybody that is not backing Larry McQuarry's lawsuit, he just called a parasite. He told us to get off our asses.
Well, I've known Larry since HE started in something like '77 and I liked him a lot and shared many of his ideals. Because I don't believe that his or Bruce's or Gregg's lawsuits will do anything positve... I am a parasite. No personal letter. No personal email. No personal phone call.
You want to see a parasite, Larry? Look in a mirror as you're asking Cashman for a job when your lodge folds - Or is United hiring?. I'm done sticking up for you.