Tag Archives: commercial fishermen and charter-boat operators
Fishing for truth in the feds’ latest Alaska halibut management plan – Craig Medred | Oct 01, 2012 Alaska Dispatch
With another round in Alaska’s halibut war shaping up between commercial fishermen and charter-boat operators, the staff of the National Marine Fisheries Service has written a 333-page indictment of what is wrong with management of the big flatfish in the North Pacific.
“The Regulatory Amendment for a Catch Sharing Plan For the Pacific Halibut Charter Sector and Commercial Setline Sector in International Pacific Halibut Commission Regulatory Area 2C and Area 3A” — as federal regulators call their hefty tome — was not intended as such as indictment, but that is what it ended up becoming. It is a long-winded, redundant, hard-to-fathom testament to what the agency didn’t do in terms of assessing economic impacts associated with changes in the halibut fishery, and what it plans to do to benefit commercial fishermen.
Where other U.S. resource agencies focus on generating revenue for the cash-strapped U.S. Treasury by making money off public resources — be it oil, gas, minerals, timber range land, or even scenery — the Fisheries Service is focused on increasing revenue for the fishermen with whom it long ago formed an alliance.
Syndicate Fish Wars: How the battle over halibut has impacted charters and commercial fishermen
Is the goal job elimination?
Show me the money
Charter operators growing tired
Damping down tensions
