The halibut fisheries industrial complex!

The halibut fisheries industrial complex has determined that it is easier to restrict the sport fisherman than it is to conduct an environmentally responsible commercial enterprise. Eliminate the other user groups before their strip mining of the ocean correlation can be recognized for what it is, wanton waste of an apparent endless supply of fish. The commercial fishing complex wastes twice as much halibut than is taken by all of the sportfisherman inside or out side of Alaska combined.
The problem is not the tourist from Iowa wanting to take home his second halibut, it is a commercial fishing industry that refuses to fish responsibly. The commercial fishing fleet off of Alaska is clear-cutting the oceans for profit. It seems to me that it is high time for the local commercial fishermen of Alaska to stand up for their industry and stop allowing the strip-mining of the ocean for corporate profit. The mom and pop sport and commercial fishermen should work together to reduce bycatch and other wasteful practices that will ultimately result in more and more scrutiny from outside forces. Lets worry about the Alaskan small businesses that depend on a fair and equitable approach to regulation of our natural resources.

Halibut industry braces for more limits on their catch

By Margaret Bauman
Alaska Journal of Commerce
Halibut longliners and charter operators, particularly those in Southeast Alaska, are bracing for further cuts in catch limits when the International Pacific Halibut Commission meets Jan. 13-16 in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The IPHC staff in late November recommended that the overall catch from the U.S. West Coast to the Bering Sea be trimmed from the 60.4 million pounds in 2008 to 54 million pounds in 2009.
The proposed 10 percent harvest reduction comes in the wake of a 9 percent decrease in the allowable harvest in 2008.
The biggest recommended reduction would be in regulatory area 2C, in Southeast Alaska, where the recommendation is to cut the catch limit from 6.21 million pounds to 4.47 million pounds.
In Area 3A, in Southcentral Alaska, the recommendation is to cut catch limits from 24.22 million pounds to 22.53 million pounds.
Alaska's western gulf region, area 3B, would see an increased allowable catch, up from 10.90 million pounds in 2008 to 11.67 million pounds in 2009.
Linda Behnken, executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen's Association in Sitka, said halibut longline fishermen in Southeast Alaska “were pretty well staggered” by the IPHC staff recommendations.
“We were braced for 10 to 15 percent reduction; (but) everyone will lose another 28 percent of their quota,” Behnken said. “Some people who are still making payments (on individual fishing quota shares) will probably not be able to make payments. There are limited lenders for quota share to begin with. At current quota share prices, I'm sure people will be looking for options to allow them to make payments and still hold on to their shares. Some have put out their vessels or homes as collateral.”
Behnken noted that the IPHC is still predicting that abundance levels will start turning back up, but that's not likely to happen until 2011, so this year and next year, there could be further cuts.
“Stock assessments are not publicly available yet, so we have not had the opportunity to look at the data that led to the recommendation for the 28 percent reduction,” Behnken said. “When we get the assessment, we will pour through it and no doubt have questions.”
The proposed harvest cuts also have raised concerns from subsistence and resident sport fishermen about the impact the charter fleet is having on the commercial fleet's access to the resource, said Behnken, who said the charter operators have exceeded their guideline harvest level every year for the past five years.
Kimberly Tebrugge, an Olympia, Wash.-based publicist for Southeast Alaska's charter halibut task force, said the charter fleet was disappointed in the recommendations, and expects federal fisheries officials to announce a one-fish rule for Southeast charter clients any day now.
“It's challenging, because in recreational fishing most people book a year in advance, and (now) anglers don't know how many fish they can catch on a daily basis,” she said.
As for the Southeast Alaska charter fleet exceeding its guideline harvest level five years in a row, Tebrugge said, “It was a guideline; not an allocation. Sport fishermen can't monitor how much fish a recreational fisherman can catch.”
Tebrugge also argued that, pound for pound, sport fishing has a better economic benefit to Southeast Alaska than the longline fishery.
The battle for fish between the longline sector and charter sector has been waged for years before the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. Both sides have argued the significant economic benefit of their industries to coastal economies.
Bob Ward, who has operated Award Charters out of Homer for more than two decades, was part of the council task force that thought they had resolved the issue several years ago, having worked out an individual fishing quota for halibut charters.
Behnken was serving on the council at the time and supported the plan. She spoke out numerous times as a council member on the importance of sharing the conservation burden to protect the halibut resource.
Then the federal Department of Commerce failed to give the plan its stamp of approval when charter operators who had entered the fishery after the fact complained they would not be included.
“I still believe the quota program will work for the charters,” Ward said.
Ward said that in 2007, charter operators in Southcentral Alaska were over their guideline harvest level by 10 percent to 13 percent. But in 2008, the harvest declined because of the number of clients carried and halibut caught.
Over the past summer there were a lot fewer recreational vehicles stopping in Homer and a lot of those that did come did not go out on charters, he said. In general, because of the economy and the price of fuel, there was less business for the area's charter fleet, he said.
Still, state Department of Fish and Game officials might slap an annual limit of six halibut on charter customers, based on statistics that showed them exceeding the guideline harvest level in 2007, Ward said.
Margaret Bauman can be reached at margie.bauman@alaskajournal.com">margie.bauman@alaskajournal.com.

IPHC TO CUT 2009 TAC.

Overall coastwide there is a 10.5% reduction with 2C (southeast) commercial fishermen scheduled for another 27% reduction and area 3A (Southcentral) commercial fishermen scheduled for another 7% reduction.

http://www.iphc.washington.edu/halcom/newsrel/2008/nr20081125.htm

Court Dismisses Halibut Lawsuit

All --
Attached is the court's order dismissing the lawsuit against the one fish rule because the Secretary's recision of the rule in September mooted the case. The case was dismissed without prejudice.
The government sought dismissal with prejudice, which would have meant that they could use the dismissal to block a future suit against the a new one fish rule. However, we argued successfully that the case should be dismissed without prejudice, which is what the court did.
NMFS is still hoping to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking on a new one halibut daily bag limit for Area 2C by the end of November. We will notify everyone as soon as the proposed rule appears in the Federal Register. There will likely be a 30 day comment period, so everyone should be prepared to submit comments over the holidays.
CHTF will be preparing legal arguments to be submitted with our comments in order to help with a possible legal challenge of the new rule. As with the last case, funds will be needed to prepare arguments and file the lawsuit. Donations can be sent to CHTF via our website at
http://www.charterhalibut.org/id2.html

Canada closes sport halibut season.

VANCOUVER -- When the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans suddenly announced last week that the sport fishing season for halibut was closing early, it sent a shudder along the West Coast.
With salmon stocks at historic lows, recreational anglers this year have increasingly turned their attention to halibut.
Guides and lodges especially have been counting on the bottom fish to get them through a poor salmon season, with many advertising their access to good halibut grounds.
But with two months left to go in the season, the DFO has announced fishing will be closed from Oct. 31 to Dec. 31. Guides will have to cancel any trips they have booked and lodges that are now selling next year's season at outdoor shows will have to explain to customers why this season has been cut short. Get the whole story @
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20081027.BCHUME27/TPStory/Environment

Update and Discussion on the Sport Fishing Guides Services Board

CLICK ON THE HEADING OF THIS POST TO SEE THE DRAFT REPORT.

Draft Catch Sharing Plan!

Check out the draft plan by clicking on the title of this post.

Catch share passes.

Saturday evening the NPFMC voted 10 to 1 to pass a catch sharing plan. Friday afternoon the State of Alaska offered the first motion on the halibut charter issue. This motion had no set allocation between the commercial and charter sectors. It did have a framework where at various level of abundance the charter fleet would fish under a one fish bag limit, two fish bag limit with one under 32″ and a two fish bag limit with no leasing of IFQ’s. This proposal allowed a range of charter harvest from 12% to 30% depending upon the level of abundance in 2C and 11.8% to 30% in 3A. The Council allowed the motion to sit overnight, while they took staff reports on 3A management measures to allow the public a chance to review, understand and offer to council members their opinions on a one to one basis.

The final motion ended up being a catch sharing plan that has a clear allocation between sectors. The charter fleet allocation is a fixed percentage of 15.1% in 2C except when the combined commercial and charter catch limit is below 5 million pounds when the allocation goes to 17.3%. In 3A the allocation is 14% except when the combined commercial and charter catch limit is below 10 million pounds when the allocation goes to 15.4%. The allocation acknowledges that management measures and projections of harvest in the charter fleet are imprecise therefore up to a 3.5% variance may occur and that overtime the variances should balance out. The allocation is what will be used in IPHC’s calculations for determining the commercial catch limits. The State of Alaska approach of predetermining set management measures that IPHC and NMFS will abide by at various levels of abundance as determined by the combined commercial and charter catch limit although these differ then the State’s original motion. Leasing was added as an amendment to the motion which passed with a split vote of 8 to 3 and became part of the main motion which passed the Council.