Federal & State Boards!
ALASKA DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME ( ADF&G)
Alaska Sportfish Regulations! (ADF&G)
(ADF&G) Emergency Orders!
NORTH PACIFIC FISHERIES MANAGMENT COUNCIL! (NPFMC)
NPFMC HALIBUT CATCH SHARING!
NPFMC SALMON BYCATCH
.National Marine Fisheries (NMFS)
NMFS Halibut Charter Regulations
International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
NOAA Fisheries Office of Sustainable Fisheries
Views and Blogs!
Halibut Issues Blog!
THE DECK BOSS BLOG
Commercial Fishermans News!
Halibut Association of North America
Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA)
COMMERCIAL FISH SPEAK!
HALIBUT COALITIOIN!
NO TRAWL ZONE!!
The Tundra Drums!
ALASKA OUTDOOR FORUM!
Contact your legislator!
American Sportfishing Association!
Southeast Alaska Guides Organization
-------------------------------------------------------------------The North Pacific Fishery Management Council has established a limited entry program for the halibut sport charter industry operating in southeast and southcentral Alaska. This program is anticipated to go into effect in 2010. Qualification for operating licenses under the program is based on participation during the 2004 or 2005 fishing seasons. Businesses not granted licenses will not be eligible to fish for halibut once this program goes into effect. Further information regarding this limited entry program can be obtained by calling the National Marine Fisheries Service at (907) 586-7228.
The NPFMC has struggled for several years with allocation issues between the growing charter boat sector and the existing commercial IFQ sector. An amendment package to incorporate this fishery into the commercial IFQ program was submitted in 2003 and was subsequently withdrawn. Most recently the Council adopted a catch-sharing plan with specific allocation percentages. Further consideration of incorporation into the IFQ program may be taken up by the Council in the next few years, following review of the catch-sharing plan (pending Secretarial approval).
The spring 2009 NPFMC meeting addresses King Salmon bycatch in the the high-seas pollock fishing industry!
After approving the killing of 68000 kings, North Pacific Fisheries management Council chairman Eric Olson (representing KWIKPAK fisheries corp.)
"I fully recognize that this reduction is not a silver bullet,"
The peoples take on King Salmon Bycatch!
"I don't understand how you can call this a reduction," Ricci said. She noted that the upper limit of the cap (68000) is higher than the average bycatch over the past decade! The proposed rule deals with a pure allocation issue and does not present any resource conservation solutions.
January 11, 2010 Click here! NOAA sets application period for sport charter halibut fishing permits
January 4, 2010 NOAA announces limited access program for sport charter halibut fishing in Alaska ..
NOAA Fisheries has announced a new fishery management program passed by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council that limits the number of charter boats in the guided sport halibut fishery in Southeast Alaska and the central Gulf of Alaska.
Dec.29, 2009 Upper Cook Inlet Sockeye Salmon forecast for 2010. Its not good! Click here!!
Dec. 22, 2009 RECREATIONAL FISH STOCKING PLAN. The Division of Sport Fish is now accepting public comment on its statewide fish stocking plan.
The Division, with assistance from private non-profit hatchery operators, plans to release more than 7 million fish into the waters of Alaska every year for the next five years, to benefit recreational anglers.Dec. 10, 2009 NOAA Proposes Draft Catch Share Policy On December 10, 2009, NOAA released a draft policy on the use of catch share programs in fishery management plans.
Dec. 5 2009 Fisheries board: Bay protection warranted The Alaska Board of Fisheries decided Saturday to send a letter to state legislators asking them to consider more regulatory protection for salmon in the Bristol Bay river drainages downstream of the proposed Pebble mine.
December 3, 2009 The number of halibut reported in Area 3A logbooks for trips made through July 31 2009 was down 21% relative to 2008. The number of halibut reported in Area 2C logbooks for trips made through July 31, 2009 was 52%below the 2008 harvest for the same period.
Dec. 1, 2009 NOAA Proposes Critical Habitat for Cook Inlet Beluga Whales. How will this effect sportfishing for halibut and salmon?
October 21, 2009. Alaska State Rep. Stolze to ASMI Board: All Commercial Fishing Bills Dead in 2010.. click here. “I don’t have many tools,” he said. One tool state representative Stoltze chose not to use was the special legislative committee created last year to address the Cook Inlet salmon wars. Stoltze was a member of the Cook Inlet Salmon Task Force.
October 20, 2009 Outraged fishermen lashed out at state fishery managers Oct. 12, telling them at a House Resources Committee meeting in Bethel that they mismanaged struggling salmon stocks on the Yukon River at the expense of rural Alaskans. Click here!
OCTOBER 17, 2009 GUIDE AND BUSINESS LICENSING declines slowly. CLICK HERE!
In 2006, 1,677 sport fishing businesses and 3,454 guides were licensed with ADF&G. In 2007, 1,695 businesses and 3,531 guides were licensed, and in 2008, 1,659 sport fishing businesses and 3,522 sport fishing guides were licensed with ADF&G to provide sport fishing services in Alaska.The number of vessels registered to provide saltwater sport fishing charter services was 1,671 in 2006, 1,666 in 2007, and 1,604 in 2008.
October 8th, 2009 Published in the TUNDRA DRUMS. Fishery protesters get fined .On June 26, two men joined more than a dozen others and traveled about 10 miles upriver to fish illegally in the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. Soon after, several admitted the act to journalists. Through the media, they told the world they did it to send a message to fishery managers and to feed villagers who had no king salmon in their freezers. The protestors lashed out at the high-seas pollock fishing industry. In its quest to catch pollock for use in food such as fish sticks, trawlers snag and toss aside thousands of kings yearly. A record 120,000 were unintentionally caught in 2007.
2009 Yukon salmon fishery: The numbers
King salmon harvested in 2009: 316
Annual average of kings harvested in the 10 years before 2009: 35,027
Summer chum salmon harvested in 2009: 170,272
Annual average of chums harvested in the 10 years before 2009: 63,341
September 29, 2009 05:45 am
Catch share strife grows Click HERE Recreational fishing interests have registered their intense opposition to "catch shares"
8/20/2009 Enviro group steps up 'catch share' push Source: Gloucester (Mass.) Daily Times, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009
The Environmental Defense Fund and a California congressman have undertaken a lobbying campaign on behalf of "catch shares," the policy advanced by national oceans administrator Jane Lubchenco that would privatize the fisheries, converting a commonly held resource into a commodity! Click here!
8/3/2009 Yukon Fish Swimming Up the Mainstream. Click here! The lack of salmon last season triggered a crisis of huge proportion in rural Western Alaska.
7/15/2009 Fisheries councils push catch shares only. The latest version of the 'asset commoditization' of USA fisheries is well underway! Click here!
Summary of new rules for Area 2C Halibut charter anglers
- Anglers fishing from a charter vessel are limited to one halibut per calendar day.
- A charter vessel angler may use only one fishing line. No more than six lines are allowed on a charter vessel fishing for halibut.
- Charter operators, guides and crew may not catch and retain halibut during a charter fishing trip.
- Anglers’ names and fishing license numbers are recorded in the trip log book.
- Anglers retaining halibut must sign the log at the end of the charter vessel fishing trip.
- A halibut on a charter vessel may be cut into no more than two ventral (bottom side) pieces, two dorsal (top side) pieces and two cheeks, all with the skin on.
There are several programs in place in North Pacific fisheries that fit the description of ‘limited access privilege programs’, or LAPPs, Halibut Charter Boat – potential inclusion in IFQ program.
