State biologists are forecasting a run of 32.3 million wild Alaska sockeye salmon returning to Bristol Bay in 2012, and a harvest estimate of 21.76 million fish. Biologists say a run of 32.2 million sockeyes can potentially produce a total harvest of 22.83 million fish. The projected harvest includes 21.76 million fish in Bristol Bay and 1.07 million fish for the South Alaska Peninsula fisheries.
In 2011, Bristol Bay produced a harvest of 21.9 million reds, with a preliminary value to harvesters of $135.7 million.
For the Naknek-Kvichak District, the run forecast is 14.96 million fish, including 6.48 million to the Kvichak River, 1.90 million to the Alagnak River, and 6.22 million to the Naknek River.
Biologists predict a run of 3.09 million reds to the Egegik district, 3.09 million to the Ugashik district, 0.78 to the Togiak district, and 6.76 million to the Nushagak district, including 4.64 million to Wood River, 1.40 million to the Nushgak River and 0.72 million to the Igushik River.
Bob Waldrop, executive director of the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association, noted that sometimes the forecasts are right on, while at other times expectations are different than the reality. “It’s important that (forecasts) be done, but also important that we understand that we really don’t have the funding to completely understand what’s going on in the salmon systems.
“Expectations are just that,” he said. “They are as informed as we can make them.”
Forecasters anticipate the 2012 run will be dominated by age 1.3 sockeyes, at 41 percent, followed by age 2.2, at 26 percent, age 1.2 at 19 percent, and age 2.3 at 13 percent.
Historically, total runs of red salmon to Bristol Bay have been highly variable, the researchers said. The 2012 forecast of 32.30 million fish is above the long-term historical average of 30.63 million fish from 1956 to 2011, but below the more recent historical average of 40.50 million fish from 2004 to 2011.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
State Documents Importance of Fish Harvesting to Alaska Economy
A report in the November issue of Alaska Economic Trends says fish harvesting is a critical component of Alaska’s economy, employing thousands of people, and with an economic impact that goes way beyond the harvesting effort itself.
The report, produced by the state’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development, notes that Bristol Bay’s earnings and harvesting employment have grown the most over the last six years. In 2010, that region’s gross earnings topped $169 million, a 72 percent increase over 2005. Harvesting employment for the same period rose by 381 workers to 7,225.
Though its harvesting workforce is the fourth largest in the state, the Aleutians and Pribilof Islands region was the leader in gross earnings at almost $500 million in 2010- nearly double that of the second highest earning region, Southcentral Alaska. Despite the high gross earnings for the area, the number of fish harvesters has declined over the last six years, the report said. From 2005, there was an estimated loss of 158 permit holders and 110 crewmembers.
Southeast Alaska had the largest workforce of fish harvesters in 2010, but its gross earnings ranked third behind Southcentral. Harvesting employment grew by 146 workers, to reach a total of 9,182, and Southeast Alaska had a record year for gross earnings of $208 million, $49 million more than in 2005.
In the Yukon Delta region, the number of active permit holders has slowly decreased since 2005, while the number of crew has grown, resulting in higher overall employment. From 2005 to 2010, gross earnings for that region rose 37 percent to $4.9 million.
More details on the economic contributions of Alaska’s commercial fisheries are at http://labor.alaska.gov/trends/
The report, produced by the state’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development, notes that Bristol Bay’s earnings and harvesting employment have grown the most over the last six years. In 2010, that region’s gross earnings topped $169 million, a 72 percent increase over 2005. Harvesting employment for the same period rose by 381 workers to 7,225.
Though its harvesting workforce is the fourth largest in the state, the Aleutians and Pribilof Islands region was the leader in gross earnings at almost $500 million in 2010- nearly double that of the second highest earning region, Southcentral Alaska. Despite the high gross earnings for the area, the number of fish harvesters has declined over the last six years, the report said. From 2005, there was an estimated loss of 158 permit holders and 110 crewmembers.
Southeast Alaska had the largest workforce of fish harvesters in 2010, but its gross earnings ranked third behind Southcentral. Harvesting employment grew by 146 workers, to reach a total of 9,182, and Southeast Alaska had a record year for gross earnings of $208 million, $49 million more than in 2005.
In the Yukon Delta region, the number of active permit holders has slowly decreased since 2005, while the number of crew has grown, resulting in higher overall employment. From 2005 to 2010, gross earnings for that region rose 37 percent to $4.9 million.
More details on the economic contributions of Alaska’s commercial fisheries are at http://labor.alaska.gov/trends/
Homer Fisherman Named to Alaska Seafood Industry Hall of Fame
Retired Homer commercial fisherman Bob Moss has been named to the United Fishermen of Alaska’s Alaska Seafood Industry Hall of Fame.
Mark Vinsel, executive director of UFA, said Moss was recognized for his efforts as a pioneer in Alaska fisheries for 60 years. Moss served on the Alaska Board of Fisheries, and was heavily involved in the Alaska statehood movement and efforts to organize fishermen to represent themselves in the fisheries management process.
Buck Lukaitis, president of the Homer-based North Pacific Fisheries Association, nominated Moss during the UFA’s fall meeting in Homer in early November.
Moss addressed the UFA board, recounting his earliest fishing times and the importance of work outside the fishing seasons. He said he wanted to thank fishermen who attend all the meetings of the Board of Fisheries, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and meetings in their communities. “Fishing is also about what happens before and after the fishing season,” he said.
UFA established the Alaska Seafood Hall of Fame in 2009 to honor the 50th anniversary of Alaska Statehood.
Those named to the hall of fame to date include Bob Alverson, US Sen. Bob Bartlett, Bob Blake, the Brindle Family, Chuck Bundrant, Al Burch, Phil Daniel, Oscar Dyson, Senator Dick Eliason, Gov. Ernest Gruening, Gov. Jay Hammond, Gordon Jensen, Knute Johnson, Armin F. Koernig, Jerry McCune, Alaska State Rep. Drew Scalzi, Alaska State Sen. Clem Tillion, Tommy Thompson, and Bob Thorstenson Sr.
“These individuals each made lasting contributions that helped Alaska fishermen and women continue our sustainable fisheries into the future,” Vinsel said. “We look forward to recognizing the many others that are helping ensure our sustainable fisheries for future generations.”
Mark Vinsel, executive director of UFA, said Moss was recognized for his efforts as a pioneer in Alaska fisheries for 60 years. Moss served on the Alaska Board of Fisheries, and was heavily involved in the Alaska statehood movement and efforts to organize fishermen to represent themselves in the fisheries management process.
Buck Lukaitis, president of the Homer-based North Pacific Fisheries Association, nominated Moss during the UFA’s fall meeting in Homer in early November.
Moss addressed the UFA board, recounting his earliest fishing times and the importance of work outside the fishing seasons. He said he wanted to thank fishermen who attend all the meetings of the Board of Fisheries, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and meetings in their communities. “Fishing is also about what happens before and after the fishing season,” he said.
UFA established the Alaska Seafood Hall of Fame in 2009 to honor the 50th anniversary of Alaska Statehood.
Those named to the hall of fame to date include Bob Alverson, US Sen. Bob Bartlett, Bob Blake, the Brindle Family, Chuck Bundrant, Al Burch, Phil Daniel, Oscar Dyson, Senator Dick Eliason, Gov. Ernest Gruening, Gov. Jay Hammond, Gordon Jensen, Knute Johnson, Armin F. Koernig, Jerry McCune, Alaska State Rep. Drew Scalzi, Alaska State Sen. Clem Tillion, Tommy Thompson, and Bob Thorstenson Sr.
“These individuals each made lasting contributions that helped Alaska fishermen and women continue our sustainable fisheries into the future,” Vinsel said. “We look forward to recognizing the many others that are helping ensure our sustainable fisheries for future generations.”
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Markets Look Strong for Southeast Alaska Geoduck Fishery
By Margaret Bauman
Geoduck harvesters in Southeast Alaska are anticipating strong markets this year, based on reports that Washington State fisheries are paying $14 to $16 a pound for these large burrowing clams.
“We’re hoping to start the season at $8 to $10 a pound, said Phil Doherty, executive director of the Southeast Alaska Regional Dive Fisheries Association in Ketchikan.
“If we could average $10 a pound for the season, everyone would be happy.”
Last year’s fishery, which employed more than 200 people in jobs ranging from diving to processing, was worth an estimated $6 million, Doherty said.
Doherty noted in an interview on the eve of the fishery’s starting date of Oct. 6 that Alaska prices to harvesters for geoducks are tempered by the comparatively higher costs of doing business in Alaska, from getting tenders to the grounds to shipping the live geoducks to Hong Kong.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has set the guideline harvest level for this year’s Southeast Alaska commercial geoduck clam fishery at 557,500 pounds. Fishing areas were to open based on paralytic shellfish poison test results. Weekly PSP results are expected on Monday afternoons, state fisheries officials noted. If sampling is delayed the fishing period may also be delayed up to one day.
In the Ketchikan management area, the sea cucumber fisheries are conducted on Mondays and Tuesday and the geoduck fishery is restricted to Thursdays, assuming those areas have been cleared by PSP testing, Doherty said.
Trident Seafoods and E.C. Phillips in Ketchikan and Absolute Fresh in Sitka purchase the bulk of the harvest, he said.
For the 2010-2011 season, the combined harvest of geoducks, sea cucumbers and red sea urchins in Southeast Alaska garnered harvesters $8,233,773, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game calculations showed.
The harvest of 845,702 geoducks averaged $5.85 a pound for a total ex-vessel value of $4,943,539. The sea cucumber harvest of 1,274,541 pounds, at $2.52 a pound, had an ex-vessel value of $3,211,422, and the red sea urchin harvest of 276,745 pounds, at 28 cents a pound average, was worth $77,489.
Geoducks, the world’s largest burrowing clam, are neither gooey or ducks. They take their name from the Nisqually Indian term meaning “dig deep,” notes Amy Carroll, a publications specialist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Juneau.
Geoducks reach sexual maturity at three years. After five to 10 years, when their weight is between two and four pounds, they are considered harvestable. They continue to grow until they are about 15 years old and can reach weights of 14 pounds.
Wild geoducks reproduce by a method called broadcast spawning. They release eggs and sperm into the water and rely on movement of the water to unite them. Within 40 to 50 days, the immature geoducks slowly burrow into the muddy ocean floor at a rate of about one foot per year. Once they are at about three feet deep, they settle in for life, siphoning plankton into their bodies and siphoning out the remaining water.
This year’s guideline harvest level is less than last year’s because the management plan for geoduck harvests in Southeast Alaska is on a two-year rotation. “We fish half of the beds in one year, half of the beds in the next year, Doherty explained. “It happens that this year’s rotation is less than last year’s rotation.
The average weight of the commercially harvested geoduck is 2.5 to 3 pounds.
Quality is related to the substrate they are in, he said. The whiter the meat, the higher the price it garners in Hong Kong, he said.
To date, climate change does not appear to be affecting the fishery, but increasing numbers of hungry sea otters are, according to Doherty.
“The decline in this year’s GHL is not necessarily due to sea otters, but in the future it seems as if our GHL may be going down because of sea otter predation,” he said.
“They are going to put us out of business. They are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. There is no management plan for sea otters. They are eating everything and they have no natural predators,” he said. “They are like the wolves of Southcentral Alaska, but with the wolves there is at least a management plan.”
Recolonization of Sea Otters Affects Geoduck Harvests
While sea otters in Southeast Alaska, unlike those in the Aleutians, are not threatened by orca whales, they once were at the mercy of the fur trade. That was the subject of a presentation by Zachary Hoyt of the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at the 27th annual Wakefield Fisheries Symposium in Anchorage on Sept. 13.
Hoyt noted in his presentation that sea otters were extirpated by the fur trade from Southeast Alaska by the late 1800s.
In the absence of sea otters, macroinvertebrate populations increased and lucrative fisheries developed. In an effort to re-establish sea otters, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game translocated sea otters to Southeast Alaska between 1965 and 1969.
This effort was successful and the sea otter population is currently growing at an exponential rate and expanding in distribution, Hoyt said.
“We examined ADFG biomass survey data collected from the California sea cucumber, red sea urchin and geoduck clam fisheries in southern Southeast Alaska since 1990 and Dungeness crab catch and effort data collected since sea otter reintroduction,” Hoyt said in his abstract for the symposium.
“Evaluation of both fishery survey and catch data demonstrate that in the last 20 years sea otters have impacted commercial fisheries. Since 1993, ADFG has closed 18 dive fishery sub-districts within the red sea urchin, geoduck clam and California sea cucumber fisheries, due in part to presumed sea otter predation. In addition, the Dungeness crab fishery has compressed away from areas with sea otters.”
Hoyt also noted that using sea otter abundance data collected in 1988, 2003 and 2010 that scientists concluded that sea otters are impacting invertebrate fisheries in southern Southeast Alaska and that this reduction in fishing opportunity has impacted several small communities in southern Southeast Alaska.
Margaret Bauman can be reached at margieb42@mtaonline.net.
Geoduck harvesters in Southeast Alaska are anticipating strong markets this year, based on reports that Washington State fisheries are paying $14 to $16 a pound for these large burrowing clams.
“We’re hoping to start the season at $8 to $10 a pound, said Phil Doherty, executive director of the Southeast Alaska Regional Dive Fisheries Association in Ketchikan.
“If we could average $10 a pound for the season, everyone would be happy.”
Last year’s fishery, which employed more than 200 people in jobs ranging from diving to processing, was worth an estimated $6 million, Doherty said.
Doherty noted in an interview on the eve of the fishery’s starting date of Oct. 6 that Alaska prices to harvesters for geoducks are tempered by the comparatively higher costs of doing business in Alaska, from getting tenders to the grounds to shipping the live geoducks to Hong Kong.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has set the guideline harvest level for this year’s Southeast Alaska commercial geoduck clam fishery at 557,500 pounds. Fishing areas were to open based on paralytic shellfish poison test results. Weekly PSP results are expected on Monday afternoons, state fisheries officials noted. If sampling is delayed the fishing period may also be delayed up to one day.
In the Ketchikan management area, the sea cucumber fisheries are conducted on Mondays and Tuesday and the geoduck fishery is restricted to Thursdays, assuming those areas have been cleared by PSP testing, Doherty said.
Trident Seafoods and E.C. Phillips in Ketchikan and Absolute Fresh in Sitka purchase the bulk of the harvest, he said.
For the 2010-2011 season, the combined harvest of geoducks, sea cucumbers and red sea urchins in Southeast Alaska garnered harvesters $8,233,773, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game calculations showed.
The harvest of 845,702 geoducks averaged $5.85 a pound for a total ex-vessel value of $4,943,539. The sea cucumber harvest of 1,274,541 pounds, at $2.52 a pound, had an ex-vessel value of $3,211,422, and the red sea urchin harvest of 276,745 pounds, at 28 cents a pound average, was worth $77,489.
Geoducks, the world’s largest burrowing clam, are neither gooey or ducks. They take their name from the Nisqually Indian term meaning “dig deep,” notes Amy Carroll, a publications specialist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Juneau.
Geoducks reach sexual maturity at three years. After five to 10 years, when their weight is between two and four pounds, they are considered harvestable. They continue to grow until they are about 15 years old and can reach weights of 14 pounds.
Wild geoducks reproduce by a method called broadcast spawning. They release eggs and sperm into the water and rely on movement of the water to unite them. Within 40 to 50 days, the immature geoducks slowly burrow into the muddy ocean floor at a rate of about one foot per year. Once they are at about three feet deep, they settle in for life, siphoning plankton into their bodies and siphoning out the remaining water.
This year’s guideline harvest level is less than last year’s because the management plan for geoduck harvests in Southeast Alaska is on a two-year rotation. “We fish half of the beds in one year, half of the beds in the next year, Doherty explained. “It happens that this year’s rotation is less than last year’s rotation.
The average weight of the commercially harvested geoduck is 2.5 to 3 pounds.
Quality is related to the substrate they are in, he said. The whiter the meat, the higher the price it garners in Hong Kong, he said.
To date, climate change does not appear to be affecting the fishery, but increasing numbers of hungry sea otters are, according to Doherty.
“The decline in this year’s GHL is not necessarily due to sea otters, but in the future it seems as if our GHL may be going down because of sea otter predation,” he said.
“They are going to put us out of business. They are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. There is no management plan for sea otters. They are eating everything and they have no natural predators,” he said. “They are like the wolves of Southcentral Alaska, but with the wolves there is at least a management plan.”
Recolonization of Sea Otters Affects Geoduck Harvests
While sea otters in Southeast Alaska, unlike those in the Aleutians, are not threatened by orca whales, they once were at the mercy of the fur trade. That was the subject of a presentation by Zachary Hoyt of the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at the 27th annual Wakefield Fisheries Symposium in Anchorage on Sept. 13.
Hoyt noted in his presentation that sea otters were extirpated by the fur trade from Southeast Alaska by the late 1800s.
In the absence of sea otters, macroinvertebrate populations increased and lucrative fisheries developed. In an effort to re-establish sea otters, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game translocated sea otters to Southeast Alaska between 1965 and 1969.
This effort was successful and the sea otter population is currently growing at an exponential rate and expanding in distribution, Hoyt said.
“We examined ADFG biomass survey data collected from the California sea cucumber, red sea urchin and geoduck clam fisheries in southern Southeast Alaska since 1990 and Dungeness crab catch and effort data collected since sea otter reintroduction,” Hoyt said in his abstract for the symposium.
“Evaluation of both fishery survey and catch data demonstrate that in the last 20 years sea otters have impacted commercial fisheries. Since 1993, ADFG has closed 18 dive fishery sub-districts within the red sea urchin, geoduck clam and California sea cucumber fisheries, due in part to presumed sea otter predation. In addition, the Dungeness crab fishery has compressed away from areas with sea otters.”
Hoyt also noted that using sea otter abundance data collected in 1988, 2003 and 2010 that scientists concluded that sea otters are impacting invertebrate fisheries in southern Southeast Alaska and that this reduction in fishing opportunity has impacted several small communities in southern Southeast Alaska.
Margaret Bauman can be reached at margieb42@mtaonline.net.
Value of Alaska Salmon Harvest Estimated at $603 Million
Final price information won’t be in from processors, buyers and direct marketers until next spring, but Alaska fisheries officials are already out with a preliminary ex-vessel estimate of $603 million for the 2011 commercial salmon season.
That makes the 2011 harvest the third most valuable one since 1975, behind the 1988 harvest that paid fishermen $724.6 million and 2010 harvest worth $605 million. Analysts are already expecting the 2011 harvest value to surpass that of a year ago.
Geron Bruce of the state’s Division of Commercial Fisheries notes that while the 176 million salmon harvested in 2011 – ninth largest since 1960 – came in short of the 203 million fish forecast, that high prices for all species pushed the value of the harvest to an extraordinary level.
The pink salmon harvest set an all time record with a value of over $170 million. Chum salmon fetched $93 million, the third highest value ever recorded. Sockeye salmon were worth almost $296 million, gaining a respectable sixth place among historic sockeye harvests. The Chinook and coho harvests, at $20 million and $23 million respectively, fell more toward the middle of their historic ranges.
Southeast Alaska took first place regionally in value, with its salmon harvest worth over $203 million, including $92 million from pink salmon and $65 million from chum salmon. Bristol Bay, which is usually the most valuable salmon fishery in Alaska, placed second with a harvest valued at $137 million. Prince William Sound placed third with a harvest worth $101 million, mostly from pink and sockeye salmon netted.
Strong returns of red salmon also made Cook Inlet and Chignik valuable fisheries, at $55.6 million and $23.8 million respectively in preliminary ex-vessel value.
That makes the 2011 harvest the third most valuable one since 1975, behind the 1988 harvest that paid fishermen $724.6 million and 2010 harvest worth $605 million. Analysts are already expecting the 2011 harvest value to surpass that of a year ago.
Geron Bruce of the state’s Division of Commercial Fisheries notes that while the 176 million salmon harvested in 2011 – ninth largest since 1960 – came in short of the 203 million fish forecast, that high prices for all species pushed the value of the harvest to an extraordinary level.
The pink salmon harvest set an all time record with a value of over $170 million. Chum salmon fetched $93 million, the third highest value ever recorded. Sockeye salmon were worth almost $296 million, gaining a respectable sixth place among historic sockeye harvests. The Chinook and coho harvests, at $20 million and $23 million respectively, fell more toward the middle of their historic ranges.
Southeast Alaska took first place regionally in value, with its salmon harvest worth over $203 million, including $92 million from pink salmon and $65 million from chum salmon. Bristol Bay, which is usually the most valuable salmon fishery in Alaska, placed second with a harvest valued at $137 million. Prince William Sound placed third with a harvest worth $101 million, mostly from pink and sockeye salmon netted.
Strong returns of red salmon also made Cook Inlet and Chignik valuable fisheries, at $55.6 million and $23.8 million respectively in preliminary ex-vessel value.
Pebble Initiative Lawsuits Shuffled to January Calendar
Alaska Superior Court Judge John Suddock will hold a scheduling hearing on Jan. 10 in a case challenging the legality of an initiative approved by Southwest Alaska voters that could halt development of the Pebble copper, gold and molybdenum mine.
Scheduling had been set for Nov. 7, but parties to the lawsuit agreed to the delay so that some of the litigation could be consolidated into one lawsuit.
By a vote of 280-246, voters in the Lake and Peninsula Borough approved in October a ban on large-scale resource extraction that would have an adverse affect on salmon habitat. The Pebble Limited Partnership, which wants to develop the mine, had tried unsuccessfully to keep the initiative off of the ballot on Oct. 4, alleging that the initiative was unenforceable as a matter of law. Then on Oct. 28, the state of Alaska sued to invalidate the results of the initiative. The state claims that the initiative is illegal because of the state’s authority to government management and development of mineral resources.
Attorney General John Burns said in a statement that this case is not about state support for or against the mine project, but rather “about upholding the state’s constitutional authority and responsibility to evaluate whether, on balance, development of Alaska’s resources is beneficial to all Alaskans.”
Proponents of the mine say that the Pebble Limited Partnership should be allowed to go through the permitting process before a decision is made on whether to allow for development of the mine.
Opponents, including many in the commercial fishing industry, sport angler groups and subsistence fishermen and hunters, are concerned that pollution from the mine could destroy the Bristol Bay salmon fisheries.
Meanwhile a new poll released by the Bristol Bay Native Corp., which represents more than 9,000 Alaska Native shareholders, says 54 percent of all Alaskans oppose the Pebble mine, compared to 32 percent who support it.
Scheduling had been set for Nov. 7, but parties to the lawsuit agreed to the delay so that some of the litigation could be consolidated into one lawsuit.
By a vote of 280-246, voters in the Lake and Peninsula Borough approved in October a ban on large-scale resource extraction that would have an adverse affect on salmon habitat. The Pebble Limited Partnership, which wants to develop the mine, had tried unsuccessfully to keep the initiative off of the ballot on Oct. 4, alleging that the initiative was unenforceable as a matter of law. Then on Oct. 28, the state of Alaska sued to invalidate the results of the initiative. The state claims that the initiative is illegal because of the state’s authority to government management and development of mineral resources.
Attorney General John Burns said in a statement that this case is not about state support for or against the mine project, but rather “about upholding the state’s constitutional authority and responsibility to evaluate whether, on balance, development of Alaska’s resources is beneficial to all Alaskans.”
Proponents of the mine say that the Pebble Limited Partnership should be allowed to go through the permitting process before a decision is made on whether to allow for development of the mine.
Opponents, including many in the commercial fishing industry, sport angler groups and subsistence fishermen and hunters, are concerned that pollution from the mine could destroy the Bristol Bay salmon fisheries.
Meanwhile a new poll released by the Bristol Bay Native Corp., which represents more than 9,000 Alaska Native shareholders, says 54 percent of all Alaskans oppose the Pebble mine, compared to 32 percent who support it.
Southeast Halibut Charter Industry Finally Within Harvest Limit
New figures released by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game show that the halibut charter industry in Southeast Alaska has stayed within its harvest allocation limit for the first time since the halibut charter guideline harvest level was implemented.
In a letter to the International Pacific Halibut Commission, the state agency reported a preliminary estimate for the Southeast Alaska 2011 charter boat catch of 390,000 pounds or about half of the 790,000-pound allocation.
Linda Behnken of Sitka, president of the Halibut Coalition, said in an interview with The Fishermen’s News that “it’s encouraging that management measures put in place have finally been effective after six years of quota overages.” Still the preliminary cumulative overage for the charter fleet in that area adds up to 3.12 million pounds since 2004.
This year the IPHC set a 37-inch maximum size rule for charter-caught halibut in Southeast Alaska, in a decisive more to control the chronic over harvest in the charter sector. Despite the fewer pounds, the number of fish caught in the charter sector in 2011 was 1 percent higher than the number caught in 2010, according to the state Department of Fish and Game’s preliminary estimates. Angler interest in charter fishing experiences in Southeast Alaska has remained steady despite changes in management measures and the overall economy.
The Halibut Coalition noted that the biomass of halibut in the Southeast Alaska area has dropped in half over the past six years. To conserve stocks, the commercial catch limit has been reduced 76 percent, although the commercial sector has never exceeded its allocation. The commercial halibut fishermen in Southeast Alaska and Southcentral Alaska provide 35 million halibut meals annually to some 9 million to 10 million domestic consumers, compared to 230,000 meals via charter clients, the coalition said.
In a letter to the International Pacific Halibut Commission, the state agency reported a preliminary estimate for the Southeast Alaska 2011 charter boat catch of 390,000 pounds or about half of the 790,000-pound allocation.
Linda Behnken of Sitka, president of the Halibut Coalition, said in an interview with The Fishermen’s News that “it’s encouraging that management measures put in place have finally been effective after six years of quota overages.” Still the preliminary cumulative overage for the charter fleet in that area adds up to 3.12 million pounds since 2004.
This year the IPHC set a 37-inch maximum size rule for charter-caught halibut in Southeast Alaska, in a decisive more to control the chronic over harvest in the charter sector. Despite the fewer pounds, the number of fish caught in the charter sector in 2011 was 1 percent higher than the number caught in 2010, according to the state Department of Fish and Game’s preliminary estimates. Angler interest in charter fishing experiences in Southeast Alaska has remained steady despite changes in management measures and the overall economy.
The Halibut Coalition noted that the biomass of halibut in the Southeast Alaska area has dropped in half over the past six years. To conserve stocks, the commercial catch limit has been reduced 76 percent, although the commercial sector has never exceeded its allocation. The commercial halibut fishermen in Southeast Alaska and Southcentral Alaska provide 35 million halibut meals annually to some 9 million to 10 million domestic consumers, compared to 230,000 meals via charter clients, the coalition said.
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