Anchorage, February 7.  The IPHC (International Pacific Halibut Commission) adopted catch limits for 2020, which included harvest measures (bag limits) for Areas 2C and 3A. 

2C - One fish daily bag limit, Reverse slot limit: Less than or equal to 40 inches, or greater than or equal to 80 inches.

3A - Annual limit of 4 halibut per charter angler, Limit of 1 charter trip per vessel per day, Limit of 1 charter trip per Charter Halibut Permit per day, Tuesdays and Wednesdays closed to halibut retention all year, Daily bag limit of 2 halibut with one fish of any size and one fish less than or equal to 26 inches.

ACA's Work is Crucial to the Viability of the Sport Fishing Sector in a Commercially-Driven Industry 

• Your business success is linked to your client's continued fair and equitable access to fish. 
• Regulators need to know charter operators need stable and predictable allocations and regulations in order to market their services. 
• Regulators need to know the value of a recreational fishery not only in terms of economic importance, but the social and cultural benefits this brings to the sport fishing public. 

Decisions about how to share the catch between recreational anglers and commercial fishermen are always a food fight. Federal law gives the vague guidance that decisions be "fair and equitable" and are based on assigning fish to each sector according to the economic benefit to the nation. 

Many studies have shown that more $ are generated per # of fish caught in the sportfishery.

Yet specific studies of the economic value of each state and each species are hard to come by and allocation decisions often don't look very hard for the data. 

NMFS has finally completed a comprehensive report on the money generated by the recreational charter fishing sector in Alaska, and it could not be more timely.

Looking ahead the North Council will be starting a federally-required review of allocation of halibut between recreational and commercial sectors. 

The data is clear in this fishery and the ACA will be highlighting some of the key findings in this new study, which should inform fishery managers on how to slice the halibut pie. 

We are posting a link at the bottom of this blog post to the complete document and we encourage everyone to review these findings. It is eye-opening.

from: NOAA Fisheries:

"Costs, Earnings, and Employment in the Alaska Saltwater Sport Fishing Charter Sector, 2017"

by D. K. Lew, and J. Lee

INTRODUCTION

In recent years Alaska’s sport fisheries have undergone substantial changes, particularly in the management of the Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) charter fishery. As a result of these regulatory changes, participation in the charter sector Pacific halibut fishery has been capped with a limited entry program, and charter vessel operators in some areas have been subject to size restrictions and bag limits on the catch of Pacific halibut during guided trips, as well as restrictions in recent years on which days of the week guided halibut fishing trips can occur. Additionally, a halibut catch sharing plan (CSP) formalizing the process of allocating catch between the commercial and charter sectors was implemented in 2014 (78 FR 39121). Most recently, a recreational quota entity that would be allowed to buy (and sell) commercial fishing quota shares as an additional means for cross-sectoral allocation is being implemented (83 FR 47819).

In spite of regulatory changes in Alaska’s sport fisheries over the last decade, information about how changes in fisheries management tools affect sport fishery anglers and charter businesses has generally been somewhat limited to date (Lew and Larson 2012, 2015, 2017; Lew et al. 2016). While some information on the Alaska charter boat sector has been collected through the Statewide Harvest Survey and Saltwater Charter Logbook program , data collection has generally been limited to information about angler participation and harvest. Information on vessel and crew characteristics, services offered to clients, and information detailing cost and earnings have generally not been available for study or use in policy analyses.

To address this gap in information, the Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) developed and implemented the Alaska Saltwater Sport Fishing Charter Business Survey to collect baseline economic information about the charter fisheries sector for use in understanding the economics of the charter sector and evaluating the effects of regulatory changes on the sector. 

Download the full report here: Costs, Earnings, and Employment in the Alaska Saltwater Sport Fishing Charter Sector, 2017, by D. K. Lew, and J. Lee

Say goodbye to yelloweye: Southeast Alaska waters closed to harvest of rockfish species

January 10, 2020 by Robert Woolsey, KCAW - Sitka

"Fishing for a popular species of rockfish has been closed for the entire year in Southeast Alaska.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game closed the sport, commercial, and personal use fisheries for yelloweye rockfish effective 12:01 a.m. on January 1.

The ban includes all  six species of “nonpelagic” rockfish, however, the yelloweye, often called “red snapper,” is by far the most prized.

Bob Chadwick is the sportfish coordinator for Southeast Alaska. He says the populations of nonpelagic species are down dramatically, despite years of restrictive bag limits.

“Despite conservative management actions that we’ve been taking to reduce the harvest of nonpelagic rockfish, we’re seeing a decrease in abundance of 60-percent,” said Chadwick.

The nonpelagic species include the quillback, tiger, silvergray, copper, and china rockfish.

Read more: https://www.ktoo.org/2020/01/10/say-goodbye-to-yelloweye-southeast-alaska-waters-closed-to-harvest-of-rockfish-species/