Dr. Jane Lubchenco, chief of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), deserves a lot of praise for her recent visit to Homer, along with Sen. Mark Begich, to answer questions and discuss the Catch Sharing Plan for Pacific Halibut on Aug. 23. They attended a luncheon hosted by the Homer Chamber of Commerce with an overflow crowd.
At that luncheon, it was evident that several misconceptions exist about this issue:
• Lubchenco stated, "The halibut charter fleet has grown exponentially in Alaska." This is not true; there is a limited entry program that caps the growth of the fleet. In reality, the halibut charter fishing fleet began shrinking in 2006, coincident with additional insurance requirements in state law.
• "The relative fraction of landings has changed dramatically between sectors." In Southcentral Alaska, the recreational guided fishing sector has lived within its allocation since 2007 and exceeded it only in one year during the last decade. Indeed, the Catch Sharing Plan, with its provisions to allow anglers on charter boats to "rent" additional fish from commercial fishermen, could result in more landings, and less accountability, in the charter fleet.
• "Conservation science takes precedence over economic data." The Catch Sharing Plan is not a conservation measure; it is simply a reallocation decision. This decision needs to be based on optimizing the economic value of the resource to the nation. That is why the charter fishing industry is insisting on accurate economic data on the value of the fishery to the economy. That is necessary to assign allocations to both commercial and recreational sectors.
Social and economic data is also science. NMFS' failure to use the best available science on the halibut fishery causes us to question the biological science used to make management decisions. The proposed rule on catch sharing in the Alaska halibut fishery would result in a reduction of the bag limit from two fish to one for anglers who fish on charter vessels.
Read the complete opinion piece from the Anchorage Daily News