Who's really catching all the halibut?

[richmake]

Last year in Hardy I over heard a dragger/captain bragging on his cell phone to another about having a bag of Halibut bycatch so big that he guessed it to be about 25,000lbs...
He dumped it and I know that they are pretty resiliant but come on...it's gotta and up eventually

www.coastwidesportsfishing.com

 

[quicksilver11]

Mid water trawl is much less harmful than bottom trawl. Mid water is generally targeting schools of fish just above the seabed much more selective with alot less by catch. Bottom trawl is the real culprit the one that rapes the bottom. As resilient as halibut may be 25,000 lbs being towed in a net for 1.5-4 hrs does not make for a good survival rate. The fish once brought onboard are then sorted and the bycatch then goes out the scuppers,small bag of fish it goes back in the water reasonably quick but not so if the bag is big.

 

[PNW]

Maybe us sporties are taking in the shorts this season so the bycatch of these shallow water draggers can continue for yet another year?