SE ALaska Halibut Charter... very Bad News... And Kodiak, Too.

[hap]

It seems the fisheries managers have decided to wipe out an industry. As of this year the sports fishing limit on charter boats is one halibut per day... and it must be UNDER 37". That is a 23# fish. That is not what most folks going to AK to catch halibut want to catch.

At the same time these folks are limited to one little 'but a day, the private boat right next to them has a 2 fish limit with no size restriction. Good to know you fine folk are not worthy, I suppose, should you decide to charter a halibut trip in SE...

The sadder thing is the law specifically states the priority of fish allocation and the commercial guys running the show have completely ignored it.

The fact the commercial guys cannot deny, but ignore, is the commercial fleet (especially trawlers) kill and waste more halibut annually than the entire statewide sports harvest. The stocks are crashing currently because we are entering a normal 20-year temperature cycle. The managers were prompt to raise the quotas when the stocks were doing well, but much too slow when the numbers did not justify maintaining the high quotas. In another 20 years the stocks will start to return and these days will have been forgotten.

In Kodiak they just lowered the daily sports limit on rockfish from 10 per day to 5... Further, the best rockfish, which were not segregated previously, are now limited to one per day! A 90% cut in one shot.

Sad thing there is the number of times I have crossed a longliner's wake and found lots of floating, dead rockfish... When the processors are busy they do not buy rockfish because it comes in in small units rather than something they can gear up for and run a large line through... I would feel comfortable saying the wasted "bycatch" on rockfish exceeds the sports harvest, also.

I could get into some of the ridiculous management schemes they are currently using, but it would lack the impact of seeing it first hand.

I believe it was Elvis Costello that said "I used to be disgusted; now I am merely amused."
art

[fishdog54]

hap,

That last line says it all, and not just about the fishing either!!

Best regards, Dave S.

[Byron Zuehlsdorff]

As is in so many cases, the money talks.

[hap]

The managers are feds and the resource is supposed to be managed for everyone... Your congressmen and senators could have an influence...

[hap]

This is getting "better" by the day... The feds are now saying they are getting into enforcement on a new rule... If someone takes you fishing on their boat in SE AK or in the Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound areas you may NOT buy your share of the gas or expenses! Yet they leave Kodiak out of that. If you want to take friends OR FAMILY fishing you have to buy all the expenses, or the boat owner has to buy a halibut charter license...

[hap]

And just when I thought it impossible for the Feds to make a more ridiculous rule, they did it! Assume you are a flyfishing guide on Alaska rivers and are invited to go halibut fishing on a friend's boat (despite the new law turning good manners into violations) someone MUST have a Halibut Charter License aboard! And it must be considered a Chartered trip... Coming back around that means the boat must be licensed commercially and driven by someone with a Coast Guard license!

That means a flyfishing guide cannot fish for halibut unless he is alone on his own boat! No family allowed either!

art off to write yet another letter to those that should care...