January 6, 2023 — Charter operators in the Gulf of Alaska will soon be able to buy halibut quota from willing commercial fishermen. That’s after funding was included for a new catch-sharing program in the federal omnibus budget bill, passed at the end of last month.
Seward’s Andy Mezirow is on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and has been a champion of the program for a while. He said it’s a long time coming. The program was vetoed by President Donald Trump in his final weeks in office and had to go through the Congressional approval process — twice.
“This language that made it into the omnibus bill has been kicking around Washington D.C. for like six years,” he said.
The plan is designed to fix a problem that can occur when halibut abundance in the gulf is low.