SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [seafoodnews.com] — December 10, 2013 — NMFS said it will implement a catch sharing plan for the 2014 commercial and charter halibut fisheries in Southeast Alaska and the Central Gulf of Alaska.
The catch sharing plan was recommended by the North Pacific Management Council to replace the existing guideline harvest level management plan, which had been criticized for not preventing fishing overages when charter fishing had increased in the region in the late 1990s.
The NPMC said a catch sharing plan would provide the fisheries clear allocation levels for both the commercial and charter sectors.
“This catch sharing plan was developed through the collaborative effort and hard work of many people over several years and, despite some challenges, we are pleased to be able to meet the Council’s request for implementation in 2014,” said Dr. Jim Balsiger, regional administrator for NOAA Fisheries Alaska Region and a member of the Council. “This plan will give managers greater precision in setting catch limits and provide more flexibility and stability in the charter harvest.”
Under the catch sharing plan, commercial and charter halibut operations will have a combined catch limit determined by the International Pacific Halibut Commission each year prior to the fishing season.
According to NMFS the plan is designed to provide halibut fishery managers with greater precision in setting halibut catch limits and management measures that are responsive to changes in halibut exploitable biomass and fishing effort. Allocations to the charter and commercial sectors will vary with changes in halibut abundance.
The catch sharing plan also aims to provide stability and flexibility in charter harvest NMFS said. One element of the plan that allows for flexibility is the “guided angler fish” program, which authorizes annual transfers of commercial halibut individual fishing quota to charter halibut permit holders to give charter anglers the opportunity to land halibut up to the limit in place for unguided anglers. For example, if unguided anglers were allowed to retain two halibut of any size per person per day, and charter anglers were limited to one halibut of a specific size per person per day, charter halibut operators could use the guided angler fish program to permit a client to harvest up to two fish of any size per day.
A copy of the catch sharing plan is available for the region can be found here.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.