Tag Archives: International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC)
Halibut catch limits soar for Central Gulf fishermen
The International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) completed its 97th Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington, on Friday (Jan. 29), with decisions on total halibut mortality, fishery limits, fishing dates, and other fishery regulation changes for the upcoming season… The 2021 Pacific Halibut commercial fishery catch limits went up significantly for fishermen in the regulatory Area 3A, the Central Gulf of Alaska, with a 26.95-percent increase from just over 7-million pounds available in 2020, to nearly 9-million pounds this year. All other areas but two saw an increase in poundage from last year. Canadian fishermen in Area 2B get a two-percent increase, equivalent to 11,000 pounds. >click to read< 17:26
Halibut bycatch increases as council considers cod options
Data released preceding the International Pacific Halibut Commission’s upcoming interim meeting shows that almost all the regulatory areas of Alaska from Southeast to the Bering Sea — areas 2C through 4E, respectively — caught more halibut as bycatch in the 2019 season than they did in 2018, with the exception of area 4B, which covers the western Aleutian Islands. Coastwide, from California and British Columbia through the Bering Sea, bycatch increased by more than 1.5 million pounds,,, >click to read< 15:48
International Pacific Halibut Commission disagrees on catch cuts
Commissioners from the U.S. and Canada this week could not agree on the size of catch reductions that fishing fleets in the two countries should take for halibut along the Pacific coast this year. Commissioners from the two countries signaled their intent to make fishing cuts for the valuable bottom fish but not as large as the cuts suggested by staff earlier this winter. The six-person commission has three members from the U.S. and three from Canada. Their annual meeting was in Portland, Oregon January 22nd-26th. >click here to read< 20:21
North Pacific Halibut Bycatch Limit Could See 50 Percent Cut
Halibut harvests have been on the decline in the Bering Sea for years, but the amount that trawlers and catcher-processors are allowed to take has stayed the same. Now, federal regulators have agreed to consider stiffer limits on halibut bycatch. This weekend, the voted to study the impact of cutting the 10 million-pound bycatch limit by as much as 50 percent. Read the rest here 16:17
OPINION: IPHC must reduce allowable bycatch – By Curtis Jackson
I first began commercial fishing for halibut along the Aleutian Chain and Bering Sea in 2002. The Aleutian Islands are an incredibly wild and beautiful place to make a living. The halibut we often saw were averaging 100 pounds and we had several trips of thirty to forty thousand pounds caught in just a few days and long hard working nights. The money was good and the work was some of the most difficult and rewarding I have ever done. Read the rest here 17:25
