Post by: sisu on December 29, 2010, 05:43:30 PM
I guess the commercial halibut fishermen in Canada and United States lobbied hard enough in DC and Ottawa that they got what they wanted. Kinda sucks but he who whines the longest and loudest gets what they whine for.
Post by: cohoho on December 29, 2010, 08:25:14 PM
Post by: Angus on December 29, 2010, 09:14:43 PM
Post by: 7mmfan on December 30, 2010, 10:00:06 AM
Post by: sisu on January 10, 2011, 03:43:42 PM
Not to mention the 35% to 40% of families that have just lost there business due to not qualifying for the new Halibut Charter permits. Sport caught halibut are worth more to the State of Alaska's economy than Commercially caught Halibut this does not make sense for Alaska.
Furthermore, there are more halibut caught as by-catch and discarded by other Commercial fisherman than the entire recreational fishery catches. This is not a management issue, it is a control issue $$$$ and loss of freedom issue.
I urge you to look at what is happening and take action,
(If you have a commercial fishing license then you can have all the above and not be in violation! Thought you know know that)
Post by: WDFW-SUX on January 10, 2011, 03:49:06 PM
First thing I do when my feet hit Alaska is find a halibut Burger...
Post by: corktex on January 11, 2011, 12:01:22 PM
Post by: Gringo31 on January 11, 2011, 01:00:21 PM
The short story that I gleaned from those conversations was that there is a lot of blame. The commercial fishermen argue that they pretty much keep a set size of fish and the real big fish (the real breeding stock) tear away or straighten hooks and become free. They argue that while they catch a lot of fish, they have for years and while all sides argue that the numbers are down and that their quotas keep dropping, they don't feel responsible because their side hasn't changed.
The charter guys hate the commercial guys and visa versa. It is simple competition on who gets the fish. The charter guys have a real hard time thinking that they have much impact because they catch so few of fish in comparison that it can't make that much of a difference. They will however admit that they are under pressure to catch fish and they fish as hard as possible. They will fish a hole until they don't catch anymore, move on and repeat. The commercial guys will then argue back that the charter guys target the real big fish and the removal of those "trophies" are what is reducing the overall numbers.
The part I found most interesting in all of this was from the mouth of this old fisherman that just said it how he saw it, no BS. He said that "mark his words, halibut fishing is done in 4 years" (in the SE).
I don't know if I added anything of value to this thread, but it is a real problem, complicated and certainly not as simple as some may believe.
Gringo
Post by: Special T on January 11, 2011, 01:48:26 PM
Post by: daddysprad on January 11, 2011, 02:19:31 PM
Post by: Angus on January 11, 2011, 02:33:14 PM
The commercial guys will then argue back that the charter guys target the real big fish and the removal of those "trophies" are what is reducing the overall numbers.
What did they expect? The commercial fleet bitched for years that the charter halibut take needed to be reduced because the charter fleet had grown far beyond what the original sport halibut quota's alloted, so they, with their very deep pockets, pushed for a 1 fish limit and eventually got it.
I've guided in Ak. since 1990, for 17 years most of my guests were happy with 2 respectable chicken halibut a day, some people wanted to target bigger fish but not not alot of them and most were happy with 1 big fish during their trip (multi-day trips). Now that we have a 1 fish daily limit, very few people want 1 chicken, they pay big $$$ and want to put meat in the box and aren't happy with 1 25 pounder. In the last 3 seasons I've killed way more 100+ pound halibut then the previous 17 combine, not that I wanted to, I had too. So if the commercial guys want to bitch now about us taking the breeders, I say, tough *censored*, should have thought about that a little sooner. I'll be back in June to do it again but unlike the first 17 years where I tagged and released alot of big butts, I'll be whackin an stackin most of them. :twocents:
Post by: WDFW-SUX on January 11, 2011, 03:26:28 PM
Post by: sisu on January 15, 2011, 02:42:13 PM
The Alaska trawl industry, supported by the IPHC and NOAA fishing regulators, are dumping millions of pounds of halibut back into the water dead. These trawlers are allowed, by current federal regulations for 2011, to dump the following
Gulf of Alaska Halibut Allowable Mortality. 2000 MT = over 4,400,000 lbs
Bering Sea halibut allowable mortality. 3675 MT= over 8,080,000 lbs
Bering sea Red King Crab Mortality. 197,000 ea
Bering sea Opilio Crab mortality. 4,350,000 ea
Bering sea Baridi Crab mortality 3,361,000ea.
This is a waste of millions of dollars and very harmful to the economy and the ecology of our state. 12.5 million lbs of halibut would be about 50 million dollars dock price, the crab waste in dollars is even a higher dollar amount. However most of these halibut are small young fish less than 1-10lbs that would be worth many more dollars if left to reach 25lb-375lbs and in extreme circumstance larger. Why limit the 6 pack charter boats when this type of resource waste is not only allowed but mandated by the federal government. This has been happening for decades and the IPHC, NOAA, and the Trawl industry stakeholders have been very successful in their efforts at keeping this a low profile issue.
The IPHC has no interest in putting a halt to this waste as they would much rather trawlers catch and dump these fish than retain them and bring them to market as it would flood a limited market and lower the price that their stakeholders now receive for halibut. It has nothing to do with conservation and everything to do with greed. I hope the charter sector and the public wake up to the fact that they are being lied too and fooled into believing that there is need to reduce the charter fleet but not a reason to reduce Halibut mortality and waste.
All recreational Halibut fisherman need to wake-up. We do not want NOAA and the IPHC board managing our recreational fishery for the good $$$$ of the Commercial Halibut fisherman. Give the State back management of our Recreational Halibut Fishery within our 3 mile territorial limit. They can manage it in Federal waters!