March 21, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Alaska’s halibut fishermen can be forgiven if they’re confused about catch limits for the season starting this Saturday, March 24.
The final numbers are published today in the Federal Register and they are lower than last year, but — in Alaska — exactly at the levels recommended by the U.S. Commissioners of the International Pacific Halibut Commission last January.
The commercial catch limits, by regulatory area, are as follows.
Area 2C (Southeast Alaska) — the commercial IFQ is 3.57 million pounds, down 15.2% from last year’s commercial quota of 4.21 mlbs. The charter sector received810,000 lbs. this year, down 12% from last year’s charter allocation of 920,000 in Area 2C.
Area 3A (Gulf of Alaska) — the commercial quota is 7.35 mlbs, down 5% from last year’s commercial quota of 7.74 mlbs. For the 3A charter sector, the quota dropped 5% to 1.79 mlbs. from last year’s 1.89 mlbs.
Area 3B (Kodiak, Western Gulf) — 2.62 mlbs. compared to 3.14 mlbs. last year. A drop of 16.6%.
Area 4A (Bering Sea) — 1.37 mlbs. compared to 1.39 mlbs last year. Down 1.4 %.
Area 4B (Aleutian Islands) — 1.05 mlbs. compared to 1.14 mlbs. last year, a 7.9% decline.
Area 4CDE (Bering Sea) — 1.58 mlbs. compared to 1.7 mbls. last year, a drop of 7.1%.
Total Alaskan commercial quota this year (not including sports charters) of 17,540 mlbs. is a 10% drop from last year’s 19.32 mbls.
The catch limits for Washington, Oregon, and California are not yet finalized. Washington State has asked for a readjustment of the .69 mlbs. recommended by the U.S. Commissioners in January to a higher number. The final catch limit is expected to be published on Monday March 26, but effective on the season opening date of March 24. Regulatory Area 2A, which encompasses waters off those three states, won’t open until later in the year.
The Alaska catch limits reflect the recommendations made by the U.S. Commissioners but those recommendations were not reflected in the initial NMFS Rule of March 9 or in the IPHC’s Rule Book that was mailed out to stakeholders last week.
Earlier versions of the catch limits also referred to catch share plan totals, which included sport catch, and some version reported Total Constant Exploitation Yield, which included wastage, bycatch, and subsistence removals.
This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.