As many of you are aware, halibut fishing opportunities in WA waters have been severely curtailed over the past few years. The economic impact on the Olympic Peninsula businesses has been large. The Olympic Peninsula Salmon and Halibut Coalition was formed this winter to pursue changes in how the halibut fishery is managed.

The proposal below is a result of our work. It has been presented to the International Pacific Halibut Commission, the Pacific Fisheries Management Council, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The proposal is supposed to come up for discussion at the PFMC meeting in Spokane, WA, in June.

Resolutions in support of the season/annual bag limit have been passed by the City of Port Angeles, the Port of Port Angeles, the Clallam County Commissioners, and the Port of Port Townsend. There is wide-spread support for change in how the sport fishery is managed.

If you're so inclined, an email in support of the proposal to the PFMC, IPHC, and WDFW would be appreciated.



A CHANGE IS NEEDED IN THE SPORT HALIBUT FISHERY MANAGEMENT PROTOCOLS

The Pacific Halibut Convention was developed to administer the commercial fisheries for halibut between the United States and Canada. We believe the sport fleet halibut fishery can be managed separately from the commercial, Alaska subsistence, and tribal/First Nation fisheries. The International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) currently sets harvest poundage quotas for the various halibut fisheries in the waters off the US and Canadian coasts. These quotas are then applied through appropriate US and Canadian federal agencies to the states and British Columbia. We believe that it is time to re-structure the sport halibut fishery to be managed on numbers of fish landed, not estimated pounds landed.

Recreational halibut anglers are a critical component in the coastal economies of the US and British Columbia. They spend tens of millions of dollars which support many businesses from motels and gas stations to restaurants, grocery stores, bait dealers, and tackle shops. The continuing decline in halibut fishing opportunities is causing severe economic impacts to coastal communities particularly in Catch Share Plan Area 2A (Washington, Oregon, N. California).

Assigned fishing dates have created a derby mentality, forcing anglers to go fishing when they shouldn’t be on the water. Lives and property have been lost, and first responders including the US Coast Guard are put at risk when called out for search and rescue activities. Having an extended season would allow the sport angler to pick the days and sea/weather conditions for a safer fishery.

We believe the sport fishery can be better managed by limiting the number of fish that can be taken and possessed in the field and establishing an annual limit within a season structure. With more timely surveys and requiring a halibut specific catch record process, the Federal and state agencies can get a better handle on total harvest and provide more accurate harvest data to the IPHC.

We feel that that the IPHC can best address our concerns within the scope of the Convention under Article III, Section 2 (a), (b), and (c) below.

2. The Contracting Parties agree that for the purpose of developing the stocks of halibut of the Northern Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea to levels which will permit the maximum sustained yield from that fishery and for maintaining the stocks at those levels, the International Pacific Halibut Commission, with the approval of the President of the United States of America and of the Governor General in Council of Canada, may, after investigation has indicated such action to be necessary, in respect of the nationals and inhabitants and fishing vessels and boats of the United States of America and of Canada, and in respect of halibut:

(a) divide the Convention waters into areas;

(b) establish one or more open or closed seasons, as to each area;

(c) limit the size of the fish and the quantity of the catch to be taken from each area within any season during which fishing is allowed;

We would like to have the IPHC designate the Pacific Coast of both countries as one sport fishing area; establish one season – February 1 to December 31; and set an annual bag limit of six fish. With the same season and annual limit applied to both US and Canadian sport halibut anglers the concern about the IPHC being involved in domestic regulation development shouldn’t be a problem. We would recommend that the daily limit be one fish and the field possession limit be two fish.

The Olympic Peninsula Salmon and Halibut Coalition and affiliated individuals and groups request that the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife support our proposal to the International Pacific Halibut Commission, the Pacific Fisheries Management Council, and the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council for implementation in the 2018 sport halibut season. The coastal communities would realize significant economic benefits from a longer season, and anglers could plan their vacations within the season structure and know that the sea and weather conditions could be safer. We look forward to the upcoming meetings and are hopeful that 2018 will see the sport fleet halibut fishery greatly expanded.

The Pacific Fisheries Management Council which oversees ocean fisheries for Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and California will be discussing new regulation proposals at their June, 2017 meeting in Spokane, Washington. This proposal has already been submitted by the Coalition.

Any comments on this proposal should be sent to pfmc.comments@noaa.gov and it is suggested that your comments also be cc’d to the following agencies:

1. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Assistant Director (Fisheries) Ron.Warren@dfw.wa.gov and the WDFW Commission commission@dfw.wa.gov

2. International Pacific Halibut Commission regproposal@iphc.int

3. Pacific Fisheries Management Council – Halibut Manager Ms. Kelly Ames kelly.ames@noaa.gov

Public comments on the proposal received BY 5:00 pm (Pacific), Thursday, May 11, 2017, will be mailed to Council members and appropriate advisory bodies prior to the June meeting. This is known as the Advance Briefing Book Deadline.

Public comment materials received at the Council office after the May 11, 5:00 pm deadline, but BY 5:00 pm (Pacific), Wednesday, May 31, 2017 will be included in the supplemental materials distributed to the Council on the first day of the June meeting. This is known as the Supplemental Public Comment Deadline.

We thank you for your support.

For the Olympic Peninsula Salmon and Halibut Coalition, Port Angeles Salmon Club, Puget Sound Anglers, Coastal Conservation Association, City of Port Angeles, Port of Port Angeles, Clallam County Commissioners, Port of Port Townsend, halibut anglers, and coastal businesses with direct and indirect links to the sport fishing community.

Dave Croonquist
Sequim, WA
dcroonquist@gmail.com

We'll have to wait and see what happens. Support emails are appreciated. The reference to a halibut CRC on the other thread is still being considered. Might not happen this year, but it would be nice if the legislature could figure out a way to pass the halibut CRC so we'd know how many folks are fishing for halibut. There would be a more timely reporting system, too, rather than waiting for a year after the season closes as currently exists.

The problem that will arise with a blanket open season and blanket catch limit is the IPHC annual need to set quotas. There is X available for harvest.

The proposal puts no limits on the number of licenses/cards sold. To implement will require daily maonitoring coastwide over the season to track catch. Even if recs succeed in getting a fixed season it will the require that commercials be managed day to day and their fishery closed to accommodate rec catch. Not posing this as a reason not to do this, just bring up the elephant in the manager's room.

While this is a good place to start, the IPHC apparently only controls the hook and line fisheries that take halibut. There are trawl fisheries that cumulatively kill more than all the hook and line. Without consequence. And all the Hook and liners are then managed to account for this. Plus, the 'but killed in the nets is tossed back. Dead.

Looking at Alaskan halibut by-catch wastes in recent years, the grand total of the last year I could find was 5815 MT=12,819,880 pounds of halibut by-catch wasted in Alaskan waters compared to Washington state’s direct sport halibut fishery gets app. 110.3 metric tons= 243,167 lbs allocation for the year 2017.

Something is wrong with that picture.

The trawl bycatch of UNRETAINABLE halibut is sickening.



That's just ONE drag by ONE vessel.

In another words, Alaska halibut by-catch from other targeted fisheries wastes more than 98% more halibut than all of Washington State sport allocation in year 2017. But still IPHC has the nerve to pat themselves on the back about recent by-catch improvements.

“The longest halibut migration on record was that of a fish tagged near Atka Island in the Aleutian Islands, which was recaptured at Coos Bay, Oregon, a distance of 2,500 mi (4,023 km). Once halibut become mature, they seasonally migrate in the fall from the shallower (100 to 600 foot!) waters of the continental shelf to the bottom edge of the continental slope - as deep as 2,000 feet.”

CORRECTION....

Alaska wasted bycatch represents 5272% of the totality of the WA State rec halibut fishery.

We are literally a drop in the bucket in terms of extracted halibut biomass.

IPHC has no control over the by catch in the trawls. They are stuck with managing only the hook and line.

NPFMC?

Thank you, I did phrase that incorrectly. The comparison reflects the difference is over 98% going to Alaskan by-catch--- compared to fewer than 2% going to Washington 2017 sport halibut catch.

http://www.iphc.int/publications/annual/ar2015.pdf

“The IPHC and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) held a joint February meeting (2015), in an attempt to find common ground on by-catch reduction and control.

While the Commission subdivides the coast wide stock by regulatory area, the domestic governments allocate the catch further in some areas and require Commission approval to implement these allocation plans. The Commission approved the PFMC catch-sharing plan that allocates the Area 2A catch among the non-treaty directed commercial fishery, non-treaty incidental fisheries, treaty Indian fisheries, and sport fisheries. The DFO commercial/sport allocation plan was also approved. The NPFMC catch-sharing plan allocating the catch for Areas 2C and 3A between commercial and charter sport sectors was approved with specific charter management measures. The NPFMC catch-sharing plan for Areas 4CDE again allocates catch among the subareas. More in-depth information on all of these subjects can be found in the following sections of this report.”

Comments sent

In terms of allocation, this makes the salmon screwing we get look like a day at the spa. I wonder if the horrible mismanagement of groundfish has been allowed to continue for so long because there is no way for the general public to see the results of over-exploitation the way we do when salmon show up in the rivers in low numbers. We never see halibut until they're flopping on someone's deck (most often, to be dumped back dead), and until we stop seeing them hitting decks, we won't have to deal with the reality of what we've done.

Knowing how the majority of these delicious fish are being wantonly wasted, and realizing that fisheries politics will not change until they're all gone, I kind of wish they'd just let the trawlers sell those halibut to the market. Imagine how much cheaper and more plentiful it would become at the store? Wasting these fish is an even bigger travesty than intentionally overharvesting them for profit, in my opinion. That's some pretty dark $hit right there, I know....

There is a program called SeaShare where in 2014 app. 59,000 lbs. of halibut is delivered to BSAI and GOA ports from a portion of halibut by-catch. This is a similar amount of poundage to the 2017 Puget Sound sport angler allocation of 64,962 pound of halibut.

Both of these poundage’s represents a drop in a bucket and both could use major increases in coming years.

Perspectives really change when the critter in question just becomes another $100 bill with fins...





[video:youtube]www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLPPychrCYw[/video]

Bottom line, the primary thing the mgt agencies are interested in conserving is the ability to continue fishing.... REGARDLESS of what's happening to the health of the resource.

People suck...

Gee Doc, think there's more to (mis)management than what is best for the fish? It's all dollars and cents.

Look at NOF. We manage to the last fish or fraction thereof. One fish over the escapement "goal" is wasteage. Temporarily lowering the goal so we can fish is fine.

Time to Drain the swamp!

Do our native American brothers us barbless hooks on their long lines in the straights?

http://www.bighalibut.com/alaskan-halibut-facts

Compared to sport release;
Halibut do not have a swim bladder and do not suffer severely from changes in water pressure. The survival rate of halibut caught on sport gear and released in excellent condition (not gaffed!) is believed to be at least 95 percent.