SEAFOOD.COM NEWS by Heather McCarty – Sept 16, 2010 – St. Paul – For generations, the Aleut fishermen of Saint Paul in the Pribilof Islands have fished for halibut from small boats in the waters of the Bering Sea surrounding their home. A traditional part of the island diet and culture, this subsistence fishery experience was the basis for the successful development of the commercial halibut fishery that is now one of the mainstays of Saint Paul's economy.
The halibut fishery is not just the economic heart of the island, it is a customary fishery of the community during the brief and beautiful Pribilof summers, with deep roots and meaning. Each year, 80 to 100 people of the community participate in the halibut fishery, from the skippers to the boat crews to the young onshore hook baiters. Commercial halibut fishing employs much of the population, and provides a perfect example of what the Community Development Quota (CDQ) program was intended to accomplish, to develop a fishery-related economy.
When the U. S. government in the early 1980's terminated the commercial fur seal harvest that had been the main source of livelihood and the economy of Saint Paul for two centuries, the local people began to develop a commercial fisheries economy to survive as a viable community. Beginning in 1983, they acquired the funding to build a boat harbor and develop a local fleet, and the Tribal Council established the first halibut processing plant to buy their catch. Large processing companies subsequently came to the Island to process crab, and also began processing halibut, adding to the substantial infrastructure that continues today to serve the North Pacific crab fleet as well as the local and outside halibut vessels.
By the time the CDQ program was put in place in 1992, many local halibut fishermen had established successful fishing operations. The fishermen's group on Saint Paul, the Central Bering Sea Fishermen's Association (CBSFA), was designated the CDQ management organization for Saint Paul. Every resident of Saint Paul over 18 years old is a member of CBSFA, and the membership elects the Board of Directors annually. The governing statute for the CDQ program, the Magnuson Stevens Act (MSA), requires that 75% of the Board of Directors of a CDQ entity must be'resident fishermen.' Accordingly, all of the nine members of the current CBSFA Board, including the chairman, president and vice-president, are halibut fishermen who live in Saint Paul with their families.
The Halibut and Sablefish Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program was implemented by the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council in 1995, creating one of the first fisheries in the United States to use a rights-based or quota-share management system. The IFQ program also allocated a set percentage of the halibut resource in close proximity to Bering Sea communities to the CDQ entities representing those communities. For example, in the halibut management Area 4C, a small section of the Bering Sea which surrounds Saint Paul and Saint George Islands, 50% of the quota was allocated to the CDQ entities. CBSFA is responsible for the CDQ portion of the local halibut fishery in Area 4C, on behalf of the Saint Paul community.
Several local halibut fishermen were also initial recipients of halibut IFQ when the program began. Other Saint Paul fishermen have purchased halibut IFQ shares through the years, and harvest this halibut along with the CDQ halibut allocated to the community. In 2010, the CBSFA CDQ halibut allocation is 690,625 pounds, and the locally-held IFQ halibut totals 269,788 pounds.
Each May, CBSFA organizes the Annual Fishermen's Meeting, at which the local fishermen themselves agree on a fishery management plan for the upcoming season. This fishery management plan sets a vessel limit which results in no individual fisherman, including CBSFA Board members, being permitted to harvest more than a certain percentage of the CDQ halibut allocation. Every local fisherman is given equal opportunity to fish for CDQ halibut.
CBSFA in 2003 established the CBSFA Halibut Cooperative to work towards achieving the highest possible ex-vessel prices paid to the fishermen. The local fleet delivers all of their CDQ halibut and most of their IFQ halibut to the Coop. Each fisherman is given an upfront-price for fish, plus a share of the profit after fish are sold. The Coop halibut is custom processed on the island, some of it made into vacuum-sealed portions of fresh fish, and marketed under a Saint Paul brand as a premium value-added product. This vertical integration of the Saint Paul halibut fishery is the culmination of almost two decades of development of this local fishery, the economic driver and the pride of the island.
One local vessel owner described his operation as employing nine local people as crewmembers and onshore baiters, with a substantial percentage of the boat's revenue going to these employees. As in other commercial fisheries, the crew is paid each season according to the amount of fish the vessel catches. These halibut fishing dollars are a significant source of income for many families and businesses in the community.
In 2008, CBSFA built and launched the F/V Saint Paul, a 58-foot vessel designed to fish for halibut, cod and crab. The vessel, operated by a CBSFA subsidiary, provides a safe platform for local fishermen to catch their halibut quota further from shore as needed, and also to develop skills in the operation of larger vessels. The Saint Paul employs five people, including three local men, harvesting cod and other species when the halibut season is over and bringing that revenue back to the Island.
CBSFA has developed a viable local halibut fleet and commercial fishery that now provides annual employment to a significant number of local residents and has become a major contributor to the Saint Paul economy. The CBSFA management, the Board of Directors and the local fishermen, believe that the successful development of the local commercial halibut fishery truly meets the purpose and intent of the CDQ program.