Commercial harvesters delivered more than five million
pounds of halibut to Kodiak in 2012, leading all other Alaska ports. NOAA
Fisheries Service confirmed all the landings Nov. 16, in a summary report of
the season ended Nov. 7.
Holders of individual fishing quota made 729 landings with a
total of 5,036,237 pounds of the succulent fish to Kodiak, topping Homer, with
450 landings of a total of 4,417,844 pounds; Seward, with 335 landings of
2,594,668 pounds; Unalaska/Dutch Harbor with 172 landings for 2,035,757 pounds;
Sitka, with 511 landings for 1,208,476 pounds; Petersburg, with 269 landings
for 1,005,114 pounds; Juneau, with 209 landings for 937,615 pounds; and
Cordova, with 103 landings for 549,685 pounds.
A total of 14 areas of Alaska reported IFQ landings by port,
with a total of 3,930 landings of 22,769,208 pounds of halibut.
In addition, Washington State harvesters made 26 landings at
Bellingham for 558,103 pounds.
The breakout by area showed a total of 1,818 landings in
area 3A in the waters between Cape Spencer and the southernmost tip of Kodiak
Island, for a total catch of 11,688,097 pounds of halibut. Area 3B, in the
Alaska Peninsula, had 622 vessel landings with a harvest of 4,990,671 pounds,
and area 2C, off the coast of Southeast Alaska, south and east of Cape Spencer,
reported 1,219 landings for 2,527,060 pounds.
Also reporting were area 4A, in the Eastern Aleutians, with
202 landings and 1,544,024 pounds; area 4B, in the Western Aleutians, with 128
landings of 1,370,408 pounds, and areas 4C in the Pribilof Islands and Area 4D,
in the Western Bering Sea, with a total of 92 landings and 1,207,051 pounds of
halibut.
Community development quota halibut landings for 2012
included a total of 1,530 vessel landings, with a total harvest of 1,430,999
pounds.
IFQ holders also made deliveries of sablefish harvests to
seven ports in Alaska.
They included 277 landings at Seward for 5,143,348 pounds;
250 landings at Kodiak for 4,224,344 pounds; 158 landings at Unalaska/Dutch
Harbor for 2,069,899 pounds; 28 landings at miscellaneous smaller ports for
1,472,223 pounds; 66 landings at Petersburg for 1,101,245 pounds; 34 landings
at Cordova for 657,220 pounds; and 106 landings at Homer for 582,417 pounds.
For Washington State, there were nine landings at
Bellingham, for 146,183 pounds.
The 89th annual meeting of the IPHC is set for Jan. 21-Jan.
25 in Victoria, British Columbia, and harvesters are bracing for more quota
cuts, in the wake of harvests being slashed by nearly 40 percent over the past
two years, because of fewer and smaller fish.