The end of halibut sportfishing!

WE NEED YOUR HELP!


Halibut Political Front: Reducing the fleet and the bag limit

This year the Halibut Charter fleet was reduced by 30 - 40% through a federal permitting process. Now, even with this reduced number of charter boats, the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council is trying to reduce the bag limit as well.

What is the Catch Sharing Plan (CSP)?:

The Catch Sharing Plan has been passed by the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council and is headed to the Secretary of Commerce to be signed. If signed, it will reduce the allocation to guided sports fisherman by 30%. Our allowable harvest (Guideline Harvest Level-GHL) in 3A (Cook Inlet and Gulf of Alaska) right now is 3.65 million pounds. This will be cut by 900,000 lbs. Here’s a draft of the plan: http://www.alaskacharter.org/testimony/HalibutCSPmotion1008.pdf

What that means to you, the Guided Sport fisherman:

Right now, you are allowed 2 fish per person per day of any size. If passed, right now, the limit would drop to 1 fish per person per day and could ultimately drop to 1 fish under 37 inches per person per day. The other option would be to lease the fish from commercial boats at around $3 or $4 per pound, a cost that would be passed on to you. Under the CSP, the commercial fishermen get to sit on the beach while you catch their fish and pay them for the privilege.

Why? Good question. It’s not a conservation issue because the halibut not caught by you will be reallocated to increase the numbers caught by the commercial halibut fleet.

Who’s Next?

The private (non-guided, non-commercial) sportsman will be the next to be restricted. They will be receiving tags for fish caught to track numbers of fish. This is the first step towards their allocation.

What About the Bycatch (the non-targeted fish caught commercially and dump over the side of their boats)? What a Waste!

The Ground fish Trawl fleet drag a great big weighted net on the ocean floor or mid-water and scrape up everything, then pick out the one species of fish they want and throw the rest over the side. The total halibut bycatch for 2010 was 11,433,055 million pounds of dead fish (mostly by the trawl fisheries). The average fish caught is 5-7 lbs. so that means almost 2 million fish were wasted. They are not only dumping your halibut over the side but hundreds of other species of sea life including 44,355 king salmon just in the Gulf of Alaska alone. The real problem is that observer coverage of the by-catch is very limited. Most of the boats that take the largest share of the catch in the Gulf of Alaska have 0% or 30% observer coverage. This means we have no idea how much is thrown over the side. So these numbers are far from accurate. If you’d like to see a 4 minute video of Halibut bycatch check out: http://www.tholepin.blogspot.com/2009/10/filthy-video-of-halibut-waste.html

What Can You Do?- Go to www.homerfishing/politics.com for info and sample letters

Contact these people: ask questions, make comments, and fax or email letters

President of the United States, Barrack Obama- http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

Secretary of Commerce, Gary Locke- http://www.commerce.gov/contact-us

Dr. Jane Lubchenco, NOAA Chief Administrator- jane.lubchenco@noaa.gov, Fax (202) 408-9674

Eric Schwaab, Assistant Administrator of Fisheries- eric.schwaab@noaa.gov, (301) 713-2239 x 195

Governor Sean Parnell, Senator Lisa Murkowski, Senator Mark Begich, Rep. Don Young

The contact information for these four can be found on http://www.electedlist.com/Alaska.html

Charter halibut IFQ.

Its time for fair treatment by the NPFMC of the charter halibut fishing fleet. Hundreds of established businesses and thousands of employees are at risk of losing there jobs because of the current management councils actions. The halibut IFQ system is the proven management tool for conservation of the resource and maintaining a viable businesses climate that depends on that healthy fish population. Inclusion into the IFQ management system is the only equitable solution to the halibut allocation issue.

List your permit here.

List your permits here, for sale, for lease, for fun. just leave your information and contact info and see what happens. The more listings the more interest from google and other searches

For lease! 6 angler halibut permit. Area 3A. $10,000.00/ yr

Comment here!

Area 3A 20 angler halibut permit and boat for sale.

Well maintained 50' Delta charter boat available after summer 2010 season w/ 20-seat halibut permit.

OCEAN FRIENDLY? THINK AGAIN. OCEANA QUESTIONS RATING OF ‘SUSTAINABLE’ FOR DESTRUCTIVE AND WASTEFUL BOTTOM TRAWL FISHERY

Check out the link above.

Charter Halibut Permit Endorsements!

The Council recommended an amendment to the charter halibut

limited entry (moratorium) program to revise the approach used to

assign angler endorsements to charter halibut permits held by

businesses that receive more than one permit in Area 2C or Area 3A.

The effect of the action is to more closely align angler endorsements

with the distribution of highest client loads for vessels used by

qualifying applicants. The Council selected Alternative 2, Option 3 for

businesses that would be issued multiple permits. One permit would

be issued to a business with an endorsement equal to the greatest

number of charter vessel anglers onboard any vessel used by the

business to generate a permit as reported to ADF&G on any bottom

fish logbook trip in 2004 or 2005, but not less than 4. Each

subsequent permit issued to the same business would be issued with

an endorsement equal to the next greatest number of charter vessel

anglers onboard any other vessel used by the business to generate a

permit, whose catch history has not already been used by the

business to determine an angler endorsement, as reported to ADF&G

on any trip in 2004 or 2005, until all permits are issued. The Council

deleted the following language from its original motion for analysis,

“The year selected for determining angler endorsements must be the

year selected by the applicant for permit qualification.” The effect of

the action is to reduce the number of permit endorsements by

approximately 400 in both areas. The Council intended that this

amendment be implemented in regulation prior to issuance of charter

halibut permits to businesses that would be issued multiple permits.

The Council also initiated a discussion paper to amend the charter

halibut permit program to promulgate regulations to prohibit leasing of

charter halibut permits. The Council noted that its highest priority for

staff tasking remains implementation of the halibut catch share plan

that was adopted by the Council in October 2008. The Council’s next

priorities would be two commercial IFQ analyses initiated in February

2010. Four commercial IFQ discussion papers were also initiated in

February. The priority of the discussion papers will be identified in the

future by the Council. Contact Jane DiCosimo for more information

Charter Halibut Moratorium Leasing Limitations Provisions

Motion: Initiate discussion paper of the following elements and options regarding leasing of
Halibut Charter Permits.
Problem Statement: Leasing of Halibut Charter Permits could substantially change the character and
current primary business practice of the halibut charter fleet and could enable increased acquisition of
halibut charter permits by individuals that do not have an investment in the fishery. In addition, leasing
provisions are likely to decrease the sale and transfer of permits from existing permit holders and may
inhibit entry level opportunities for new halibut charter operators as well as increase the price of entry.
Alternative 1: Status Quo
Alternative 2: Limit Leasing of Halibut Charter Permits
Option 1: Halibut charter permit holders that use their permit onboard a vessel that is identified
on an ADF&G saltwater logbook must own at least 20 – 51% interest in the vessel.
Sub option: 12 month rule applies
Option 2: Halibut charter permit holders that use their permit onboard a vessel that is identified
on an ADF&G saltwater logbook must log at least 1‐5 halibut charter trips in the
logbook. For businesses owning halibut charter permits, an individual with a minimum
ownership interest of 10‐33% must log the minimum number of trips.
Sub option: Log at least 3‐10% of the trips in the logbook
Sub option: Apply only to logbooks that have at least 10‐20 trips recorded.
Option 3: Halibut charter permit holders that use their permit onboard a vessel that is identified
on an ADF&G saltwater logbook are limited to requesting 2‐3 saltwater logbooks for
unique vessels in a 12 month period and no more than 2‐3 unique vessels in a 60
month period.
Option 4: Halibut charter permit holders that use their permit onboard a vessel that is identified
on an ADF&G saltwater logbook are required to be present either at the point of
departure or at the point of return for the charter trip. For businesses owning halibut
charter permits, an individual with a minimum ownership interest of 10%‐33% must be
present at either the point of departure or at the point of return for the charter trip.
Alternative 3: Halibut charter permit holders or an employee of a halibut charter permit holder that
uses their permit onboard a vessel that is identified on an ADF&G saltwater logbook
must be aboard the vessel when their permit is being used. For businesses owning
halibut charter permits, an individual with a minimum ownership interest of 10‐33%
must be aboard the vessel.
Upon the halibut charter permit holder’s request for the issuance of or transfer of a halibut charter
permit, or the charter permit holder's request for change of use of the permit to a unique vessel when
requesting an ADF&G saltwater logbook, the permit owner is required to sign a sworn affidavit that the
permit will not be leased and that the individual or entity does not expect to receive economic
compensation from “leased” use of the permit.