Web posted
Monday, January 23, 2006
Voting down IFQs not without cost: Guideline harvest program would restrict halibut fishing opportunities
Voices Of The Peninsula
Perry Flotre
While Mr. (Robert) Penny is spreading accolades around to those who supported the political decision to restudy the Charter Halibut IFQ Program (in a Jan. 2 opinion column), he carefully evaded telling you, the public, the actual impact it will have beginning with the 2006 season. Because the IFQ was set aside for reconsideration, which will take from three to four years to come to a conclusion, you, Mr. and Mrs. Public, are now under the Guideline Harvest Program or GHL.
The GHL was adopted by the Council in Aug. ‘03 and put a fixed cap catch rate on the charter fleets of Southeastern and Southcentral. In 2004, in both areas, the charter fleets exceeded their mandated catch levels and will start being punished in 2006 in Southeastern and 2007 in Southcentral. A GHL Committee has been formed and will submit the required catch reduction measures to the Council in April ‘06 for implementation in the 2006 season.
These may include restrictions such as one trip per vessel per day, thus limiting access, no crew fish, and annual harvest limitations on halibut. The State (Mr. McKie with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game) has promised the Council he will personally push rule changes through the Board of Fish to be effective in the 2006 season to manage the unruly charter fleet and not wait for the Council to implement the GHL catch reduction procedures.
First, there will no longer be crew fish allowed. Many charters used these crew fish to insure some of our older clients who just gave out, or clients who became overcome by sea sickness, had some halibut to take home. Secondly, lines in the water will be limited to clients onboard the vessel. But wait, that’s not all the State wants to do for you.
It is also exploring reducing the limit for halibut from 2 to 1; making the second fish a slot limit, if a second fish is allowed; putting limits on the days a charter vessel is allowed to fish, again limiting access; and other things to whip the charter fleet into line. By the way, all these new rules only apply to you if you choose to fish on a charter vessel, not if you fish in your own boat or buy your halibut at Safeway. So, Mr. and Mrs. Public, I thought you would like to know what Mr. Penny did not tell you about what he achieved at the December Council meeting. By the way, I am a charterboat owner/operator, did you guess?
Perry Flotre is a charter boat owner and operator who lives in Sterling.
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