spike christopher
2011-01-30 07:00:36
I believe this might mean that the large females the charter fleet are targeting might have a chance to reproduce, what do you guys think?
A 37 inch halibut is about 23 pounds.
Halibut allocation slashed
The International Pacific Halibut Commission meeting in Vancouver has slashed halibut catches across the board with the goal of allowing the stock to rebound.
It amounts to a 19 percent reduction to 41 million pounds. Alaska's share is 32.5 Million, down from 40 million pounds last year.
The halibut catch in Southeast Alaska is reduced by 47 percent to 2.3 Million pounds.
The daily bag limit for the halibut sport fishery in Southeast is reduced to one with a maximum size limit of 37 inches.
Salty
2011-01-30 21:04:42
I have facilitated three halibut conservation and sharing task forces here in Sitka over the years. We have had consensus collaboratively developed proposals for the Sitka area approved by the NPFMC and the Alaska BOF.
We looked into maximum size limits to protect the large female spawners. While some of the task force members were interested in letting the big ones go we could not get any scientific support from the IPHC for those kind of restrictions.
While I am all in favor of the halibut sport fishery being allocated a % of the quota, and establishment of an accountable enforced numeration of sport caught halibut, I am not in favor of a 37" limit for sport caught halibut while commercial, personal use, and subsistence are allowed to keep larger halibut.
I believe the sport sector should be allocated a number of halibut (GHL) and then have to figure out within their own sector how to live within it. How much guided sport gets allocated versus unguided etc. Somehow, without talking to the people who know the political and biological dynamics, I believe the present rule from the IPHC is an effort to send a message to the sports sector, NPFMC, and ADF&G that the present coddling of the sports halibut sector by not either adequately accounting for sport harvest or enforcing GHL numbers is unacceptable.
carojae
2011-01-31 05:57:04
Logic tells me a 90 inch halibut, for example, would have more eggs than a 37" halibut - I don't know why that is so hard to understand (take that on a annual basis).
Do 37 inch female halibut even spawn yet? They probably do. However, a 37 incher has at least a 50/50 chance to be male while a 90 incher is definately a female. This explains a lot to me. The population needs those mama's.
If I were to ask for the perfect halibut for ME to take home, it would fall in the range of a 37 incher. I love that size halibut.
$0.02
Jim
I could be way off-base but I am pretty sure I read that the IPHC recommendation was for the 37" length overall for
I haven't kept a sport-caught halibut over 100 pounds for the past few years. We have been lucky enough to hook quite a few very large fish while jigging with light gear - we try to get a decent picture of them beside the boat and then they are cut off. I agree with "carojae" that the "population needs those mamas" and would go so far as to say that the eventual
martie55
2011-02-01 06:59:18
I also agree that the sport (charter) sector should get an allocation and deal with it themselves internally. Whether it be spread it out equally all year long or fish it all tomorrow. They've shown that this isn't possible by going well over their GHL allocation each year for 7-8 years. And I also agree that they are trying to send a message with the 37" maximum length, but I don't think it's a "let the big ones go so they can spawn" message, I think they're saying "let's see if they can exceed the GHL 23 pounds at a time".
Overall the 37" limit may be harsh but I think its headed in the right direction with the halibut charter permits. Whether the charter fleet wants to admit it or not they are commercial fishing (fishing for monetary reasons), and they have been running a business for quite awhile off of a free product.