October 9, 2019 — Halibut catches fluctuate based on the ups and downs of the stock from California to the farthest reaches of the Bering Sea. If the numbers decline, so do the catches of commercial and sport fishermen.
But similar reductions don’t apply to the boats taking millions of pounds of halibut as bycatch in other fisheries.
In the Bering Sea, for example, there is a fixed cap totaling 7.73 million pounds of halibut allowed to be taken as bycatch for trawlers, longliners and pot boats targeting groundfish, with most going to trawlers. The cap stays the same, regardless of changes in the halibut stock. Much of the bycatch gets tossed over the side, dead or alive, as required by federal law.
Stakeholders are saying it is time for that to change.
This month, after four years of analyses and deliberation, managers are moving toward a new “abundance based” management plan that would tie bycatch levels to the health of the halibut stock as determined by annual surveys.