Charter Operators Buying up HT permits?

[SEDrizzle]

I have heard Charter Operators are buying up Hand Troll permits lately as a way to use a loophole to help them keep halibut for clients. Does anyone know more about this? There are also rumors regarding stockpiling of halibut using these permits.

[Katlian]

To the best of my knowledge:

Hand trollers can only retain halibut if the are claiming them as subsistence or if they have IFQ. IF you have quota you must take them off your quote before you can retain them as subsistence.

The line is a little blurry on the difference between a charter operation and a hand troll operation. You are allowed to fly both the HT and the charter sticker at all times. The troopers said the only way to tell is to check and see if people have crew licenses or sport licenses. Without a boarding, sports fishermen cannot have multiple hooks per line. Hand trollers cannot have more than four fishing rods on board.

I feel lucky that we have the luxury of Alaska fish and game looking after the resource. I have had some interactions with Washington and Oregon departments. Suffice it to say that we have some extremely competent folks in ADF&G.

slr

[smallboat]

Although we have fantastic folks at ADFG there is virtually no oversight of the charter guys so why would they care? Most of them never have as it's a cultural issue that they are morally deficient. A couple of troopers and NMFS folks for what is probably one of the busiest fishing ports in the nation basically amounts to no enforcement. What kind of fine does a commercial fisherman get if he violates the rules? Pretty stiff compared to a slap on the hand if your a charter operator or even less if your a client. Accountability does not extend to fishing guides, that is well known. If you are trying to figure out what those guys are doing, think like a bandit, think short term, and then point the finger at someone else. This may seem cynical but it's simply the truth. My suggestion would be to keep a camera with you and use it.

[carojae]

Trollers (in general) were never given any IFQ, although I always thought we were left out of the grandfathered-in section of the Hallibut fishery (even before IFQ's) but I guess thats another story.
But back to your point, I don't see how this is possible either. A hidden compartment would be cheaper lol.

[smallboat]

There is very little incentive to play by the rules when accountability measures are not built into the management scheme. No need for a "secret compartment lol" if the fine doesn't fit the crime. It's simply not a level playing field. That shouldn't be a very complicated concept to get our heads around. It would sure be nice if the charter guys came up with some of there own solutions without asking for more fish and less accountability. But that is too much to ask for I guess.

If a charter guy goes out and set a subsistence skate for halibut (without any clients on board) and gives the fish away to paying charter clients, is anybody paying attention? If the same thing happens using a hand troll license and the fish doesn't get accounted for, who is going to do anything about it? Just watch how many charter boats are fishing early in the season without clients on board, add up the fish and then do the math. Apply the same to hand troll permits or misc. fin fish, ling cod or? And then add up the charter caught fish. Ran out of ink and paper didn't ya?

Again, there simply isn't any accountability for the charter industry.

[Kelper]

No halibut loophole that I am aware of.

I'm an ex charter capt (yeah i know) and I bought a hand troll permit a few years ago as I saw the halibut limited entry coming and i knew that I didn't qualify for a permit. So now I'm starting over as a troller.

[bent fin]

I know a few that have HT permits and they don't use them with guest. with the economy the way it is they are using them on days they don't have guest and doing some winter trolling. this halibut permit and the economy is a double whammy on the fleet and you are going to see less and less boats out there in the the 2010/11 season.