Tholepin: The Death Rate for Halibut is Federally Guaranteed

Tholepin: The Death Rate for Halibut is Federally Guaranteed

RUMOR HAS IT, Halibut charter limited entry is dead.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council proposed a limited entry program for the halibut sport charter industry operating in southeast and southcentral Alaska to be implemented in 2010. The rumor is that the IPHC has recommended a delay until 2011. It looks like bag limit reduction is the only option for regulating the charter catch.
We will work on getting the whole scoop ASAP.

The scientific staff of the International Pacific Halibut Commission has released its recommended catch limits.

Here's a full rundown of recommended limits in all regulatory areas, including those off the West Coast, British Columbia and Alaska:

Area 2A — 760,000 pounds, down 20 percent

Area 2B — 6.6 million pounds, down 13.6 percent

Area 2C — 3.7 million pounds, down 26 percent

Area 3A — 20 million pounds, down 7.9 percent

Denying petition to overturn the 1 fish rule in Area 2C.

Judge Collyer with the DC District Court issued an opinion today denying our petition to overturn the 1 fish rule in Area 2C.

Enviro group steps up 'catch share' push.

Source: Gloucester (Mass.) Daily Times, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009

The Environmental Defense Fund and a California congressman have undertaken a lobbying campaign on behalf of "catch shares," the policy advanced by national oceans administrator Jane Lubchenco that would privatize the fisheries, converting a commonly held resource into a commodity. Click the headline for the rest of the story!

You gotta read this letter.

We along the Yukon River are casualties of an unjust system that protects big enterprise and a state government that is unsympathetic to the rural people of Alaska, primarily the Native community. Thus, we the Native people along the entire Yukon River face an uncertain future; our subsistence way of life is now in serious jeopardy. Click here for the whole letter!

National Policy for Oceans!

National policy for oceans, coasts and lakes.
Read it and comment!

One fish limit in southeast Alaska upheld!

Federal judge today declined to grant Southeast Alaska halibut charter boat operators an injunction to block the one-fish bag limit set to take effect tomorrow 6/5/2009.