International Pacific Halibut Commission Meets in Anchorage

January 25, 2012|By Jackie Bartz | Channel 2 News

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The International Pacific Halibut Commission is meeting this week in Anchorage. During its meeting it will announce quotas and bag limits for the upcoming fishing season.

Biologists are in agreement that halibut stocks have been on the decline for years, and that halibut are not growing as fast as they should.

This week, IPHC biologists announced because of the variety of models and data, they're having a tough time figuring out how many halibut there are.

Questions surrounding the population is prompting commercial fishermen, and charter operators to worry that drastic cuts could come in 2013.

"I think 'What about 2013?' is the question of this meeting," said Tom Ohaus, president of the Southeast Alaska Guides Organization. "I think there is a lot of concern on the part of everybody here."

The IPHC is expected to adopt the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council recommendations for the 2012 season.

Under the recommendations, the bag limit for sportfishing clients headed out with a charter operator in Southcentral Alaska will remain the same as previous years: two halibut of any size per day.

In Southeast, Alaska, clients will only be able to keep one fish -- but instead of under 37 inches, which was the limit for 2011, the fish can be under 45 inches or over 68 inches.

"It's trending in the right direction, but still a challenging regulation to work with," Ohaus said.

Commercial fishermen in Southeast Alaska are looking at a potential increase of 13 percent for the quota, but fishermen say it's not enough to make up for the about 50 percent quota cuts they saw in 2011.

"I was a thousand dollars short of making my quota share payment," said Julianne Curry, the executive director of the Petersburg Vessel Owners Association. "It's pretty devastating to people who have loans out and have used their house as collateral."

Southcentral commercial fishermen are expected to see cuts of about 17 percent for 2012.

The six commissioners who sit on the IPHC will make the quota and bag limits decisions behind closed doors. They are expected to announce the new regulations on Friday.

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