Alaska limit on Southeast halibut charters

Sushihunter

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Federal judge puts limit on Southeast halibut charters

By Margaret Bauman
Alaska Journal of Commerce
Publication Date: 06/12/09


A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has limited anglers aboard charter boats in Southeast Alaska to one halibut a day, a decision applauded by the region's long-line fleet but disappointing to charter operators.

U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled June 4 against a preliminary injunction that would have allowed charter boat clients in Southeast to continue to keep two halibut per day despite fishery managers' objections.

In a similar case a year ago, charter operators were successful in blocking the government's case for a one-fish limit.

The ruling applies only to Southeast Alaska charters. Anglers fishing there without a guide may continue to catch two halibut a day.

Collyer did rule, however, that the charter operators can proceed with a lawsuit that challenges a federal rule to cut the daily catch limit for charter clients from two to one.

The Halibut Coalition, speaking for a group of subsistence, recreational and commercial harvesters and processors, said they were pleased with the ruling against the preliminary injunction. The ruling protects halibut resource and all harvesters, as well as domestic consumers, by protecting the resource from overfishing by the charter fleet, they said.

The Halibut Coalition said in a written statement that it is vital for all harvesting sectors to stay within the conservation limits set by the International Pacific Halibut Commission and the National Marine Fisheries Service to ensure a healthy halibut resource.

The coalition has been critical of the charter sector for continuously exceeding the guideline harvest level set by fisheries officials, saying that excess harms the resource, communities, fishermen and processors who depend on the halibut for food and jobs.

"It is a huge step in the right direction," said Randy Gluth, a resident Sitka sport angler and subsistence harvester. "The local subsistence fishermen have had to travel farther and farther and spend more and more on gas just to put food on their tables. The near-shore honey holes just quit producing because they got hammered day in and day out by charter boats."

Rex Murphy, speaking for the Charter Halibut Task Force, said his group was disappointed with Collyer's ruling. "However, I am pleased that we will be going to trial on this issue, as it involves a number of fundamental questions on which the future of the recreational fishery depends," he said.

Murphy, a Homer resident and charter boat operator who serves on the advisory panel of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, said that last year the unguided anglers increased their harvest in pounds by 56 percent in Southeast Alaska, and in Southcentral Alaska, by 35 percent. In Southcentral Alaska, with a two-halibut a day limit for charter clients, the charter fleet has not exceeded the guideline harvest level.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, meanwhile, on June 5 concluded its comment period on a proposed program designed to limit the number of charter boats in the guided sport halibut fishery in Southeast Alaska and the central Gulf of Alaska.

Acting regional NOAA administrator Doug Mecum said the guided sport charter halibut sector has been growing steadily in recent years and the proposed limited access program is intended to stabilize the guided charter sector while maintaining access to the charter fishery for small rural coastal communities.

Under the proposed program, permits would be issued to qualifying individuals or businesses that documented fishing trips during the qualifying years 2004 or 2005 and a recent participation year, probably 2007 or 2008, in their logbooks.

Halibut guide business operators would be required to hold a permit for each boat they use to provide their charter clients with halibut fishing trips. The charter halibut permit holders would be subject to limits on the number of permits they could hold and on the number of charter boat anglers who could catch and retain halibut on their charter boats.


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http://www.alaskajournal.com/stories/061209/fis_13_001.shtml

© The Alaska Journal of Commerce Online




Jim's Fishing Charters
www.JimsFishing.com
http://ca.youtube.com/user/Sushihunter250
 
Bring in the limits. there are already too many guides as there is. I would love to have a limited license so when i go to retire i have more than just a leaky boat to sell.
 
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