After many years of severe quota cuts, Halibut Stocks in Southeast Alaska appear to be on the upswing relative to the rest of the coast. That’s according to staff for the International Pacific Halibut Commission, which assesses the health of the resource and recommends coast wide catch limits. This past year, Southeast area 2C fishermen saw a small increase in their quota which had dropped by nearly 80 percent over the previous half-decade.
IPHC staff have not yet completed next year’s assessment. However, IPHC quantitative scientist Ian Stewart sounded generally optimistic about the region during a recent meeting with fishermen in Petersburg:
For mobile Friendly, downloadable audio, click here.
Stewart joined IPHC Director Bruce Leaman for a brief trip to Petersburg and Sitka early this month, where they met with halibut fishermen and other interested residents. Matt Lichtenstein took the opportunity to talk with them about some of the issues that came up and here’s part of that interview:
For mobile-friendly, downloadable audio, click here.
International Pacific Halibut Commission staff Ian Stewart and Bruce Leaman will present their stock assessment and recommendations for next year during the commission’s interim meeting which starts December 4th in Seattle.
