The WDFW is going to host a "Halibut Summit" on November 23, 2004 at 9 a.m. at the Olympic Natural Resources Center - Hemlock Forest Conference Room in Forks.

There was a Recreational Halibut Workshop meeting on October 13 in Olympia that discussed proposed changes to the Pacific Fishery Management Council's Halibut Catch Sharing Plan.

Based on that meeting, the WDFW decided not to pursue changes that would have established annual or weekly bag limits for the North Coast (Neah Bay/LaPush) and south coast (Westport) areas.

The November 23 Summit will identify and discuss potential management tools available to WDFW that might lenghten the ocean halibut fishery. If there are tools that might be useful, WDFW could pursue changing the halibut regulations for implementation in 2005 or 2006.

The changes that came out of PFMC in September included:

1. Change the opening date from the first Tuesday between May 9-15 to May 1. If May 1 falls on a Sunday/Monday, then the fishery would open on the first Tuesday after May 1.

2. Close the south coast subarea fishery when 2000 lbs remain in the subarea quota to keep some near-shore fishery available for small boats.

3. Set an annual bag limit of 5 halibut per person per calendar year and use the catch record card currently used in Puget Sound to track catches.

4. In addition to the annual bag of 5 halibut, include a weekly limit of 2 halibut per person.

3 and 4 were intended to provide more opportunity to individuals and to lengthen the season.

WDFW is not pursuing these proposals at this time, but they will be discussion items at the meeting in Forks.

Recreational halibut fishing is going the same direction as recreational crabbing. Lots of participants catching lots of fish = shorter seasons.

If you are interested in the ocean halibut seasons, you should attend the meeting.

For additional details, the contact points for WDFW are Phil Anderson (360)902-2720 or Michele Culver (360_249-1211 or e-mail at : culvemkc@dfw.wa.gov


Another topic that should be discussed at the meeting is making the Recreational Halibut Advisory Group an appointed group under the WDFW Director as is the Steelhead/Cutthroat Policy Advisory Group, the Puget Sound Shrimp Advisory Group, and the Columbia River Recreational Advisory Group. If we don't have formal groups, comprised of members of the recreational community, as a sounding board for WDFW we lose the ability to have direct contact with staff and must depend on "workshops" called on an as needed basis by staff.

wish i could make the meeting.

changes are going to have to be made to lengthen the halibut seasons. for years, the proposals enacted have had the result of shortening seasons for halibut.

restoring the historic opening day is a great first step to adding probably one week (5 days) back to the season.

the weekly and yearly bag limits, although not on the table for 2005, would have a dramatic impact on the individual fisherman on the north coast. i think it wouldn't be a bad idea, although it would have some impacts on the economy of the north coast (although lengthening the seasons would probably make up for it).

if i could be at the meeting, i would definetely bring up getting rid of the separate opener in june. i believe we'd get more fishing days (which means more opportunity) if we ran may 1 through end of quota.

of course, if the north coast halibut fishery could be separated from s. washingtonand oregon to reflect that the north coast halibut habitat and biomass is more in line with british columbia... we could work on getting a larger quota and having stable fishing seasons.... but that just isn't going to happen.

good luck to all that make it to the meeting. i hope you truly work for longer seasons and not short-sighted goals that work for one individual, group, or port ... but hurt the viability of the sportfishing economy of the north coast.

chris

I don't think the earlier opener is going to happen - at least this year.

The problem is the number of folks who like to catch halibut. It doesn't take to many angler days with boat limits to get to the quota. The season lengths have been shortening each year for the past couple of years as folks make plans to head to Neah Bay or LaPush. I guess Neah Bay was a madhouse this year.

Since halibut are managed through the International Pacific Halibut Commission, the odds of switching boundaries is not likely to happen. I understand that the Canadians are getting more concerned about US fishers coming over to their side. If I remember correctly, their recreational quota is also limited. They have longer seasons because they don't have the fishing pressure.

There are lots of options that can be explored

weekly bag limits
annual bag limits
gear limits
restricted fishing days (odd/even based on boat registration number or fishing license number
shortened fishing week
charter boat limits/restrictions

lots of things/combinations to consider

If we could get some equity on sport harvest out of by-catch allotments to the commercials, maybe we'd have longer seasons.....

while much of the canadian coast sees little pressure, they still have a monster quota that allows them to fish for a steady 11 months and having a set opening spreads pressure out unlike the masses that descend on the north coast during our short quota fisheries (and tackle businesses making it worse by advertising that the season will be short and you need to get there the first weekend).

of course, if we really want to make real changes... it's gonna hurt. let's close the c-area that was recently reopened (there are bigger fish there).

of course, when the normal may weather patterns reappear, we'll get our season lengthened. the last 3 years have been just plain spooky flat, and that isn't going to last.

chris

The key is the size of the quota and lack of pressure in Canadian waters by Canadian fishers. I suspect that US fishers going over the line will, at some point, have an impact on how the Canadians run their sport seasons. Even though they have a large quota, their share is, like ours, just a portion of what is alloted for take by the commercial fishers.

As for closing the "C" area, that might save some bigger fish and has the potential of extending the season based on poundage, but WDFW figures the average size on halibut at around 22 lbs. The closure is to protect yellow-eye more than to protect halibut stocks.