Halibut Tac
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trophywife
Crew Member
can i guess??
weigh under? pun intended.
weigh under? pun intended.
Bent-Tip
Well-Known Member
How about a February opening?
wildmanyeah
Crew Member
It gets update here https://iphc.int/data/landings-2021
Derby
Crew Member
Will work on it for sure.
searun
Well-Known Member
Timing of the IPHC is Jan 24 - 28. SFAB Meeting is Feb 10 for Ground Fish Shell Fish WG, where the recommendation is developed and forwarded to the SFAB MB for debate and a vote. Feb 11 to 12 for Main Board. Then SFAB recommendations to DFO on Halibut fishery regs will not go to DFO until after Feb 12. Last year the opening took place Feb 15 following SFAB MB advice to DFO regarding regulations. I would expect similar timing and approach as last season barring any unanticipated hiccups.
Encouraging news is we anticipate at IPHC there will be potential to increase TAC assigned to each Area - how that shakes out is a guess. Current guess is something around 80,000 pounds based on improved set line survey which indicates improving biomass - another factor this year will be planning for increased effort as covid travel restrictions could be eased as compared to 2021 - see attached FN.
98th Session of the IPHC Annual Meeting (AM098)
| Date: | 24-28 January 2022 |
| Location: | Electronic |
| Venue: | Adobe Connect |
| Time: | 24 Jan: 12:30-17:30; 25-28 Jan: 09:00-17:00 daily |
| Chairperson: | Mr. Glenn Merrill (U.S.A.) |
| Vice-Chairperson: | Mr. Paul Ryall (Canada) |
fishinforever
Well-Known Member
how are we Lookin for the Feb 1 opening? Anyone heard anything?
wildmanyeah
Crew Member
My understanding is most areas this year were over with respect to the expected TAC with just the northern lodge areas being way under.
So if the lodges get back to a more normal season and we do not get a bump in total tac then things may be a bit difficult. It seems tho there expecting a bump in TAC and that could avoid having to go down that road.
fishinforever
Well-Known Member
Derby
Crew Member
Its not a prefect process or science for that matter. Trying to model human behavior, covid & now weather in a model even tougher .. that being said had the lodges opened as planned I doubt that would a discussion piece.. most likely we would just hear " Why did you allow us to go over our tac and now we have to take it off the top of the 2022 allowable tac" pretty much we are dammed if we do or not.
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searun
Well-Known Member
Yes, its a bit tricky to sort out how human behaviour will play out. One new thing we started doing was completing a Lodge booking survey to get a better handle on estimating effort, rather than making an educated guess. As you correctly noted, the QCI lodges can make a tremendous dent in TAC. Thus the focus in getting a monthly update on status (changes) in lodge bookings.
Recent historic approach to setting the regulations has been to attempt to use limited tools we have in the regulatory tool box such as size limits, daily and possession limits, season length to spread out our catch to help shape a fishery opportunity that attempts to give a full season. This is challenging to find the right mix of regulatory answers without either going over (early closure) or under our TAC.
There are no easy answers trying to anticipate what will happen to a number of very unstable variables influencing our use of TAC....try your luck at accurately estimating things like weather (days we can get offshore); how covid travel restrictions may or may not change effort; how fuel increases may influence where people choose to fish (and mix of fish they catch in terms of size); how people will respond to various regulatory measures aimed at trying to give best opportunity without going over our TAC... variables go on and on. Very challenging to construct predictive models to guide those decisions for both SFAB and DFO.
As to issue of a Feb 1 season start - highly unlikely...more likely it would be Feb 15 for reasons previously shared in earlier post. Feb fishery when it starts would be back to 2021 regs so either of choices, one over 90cm but under 133, or 2 under 90cm. We are following the past season's (2021) regulations because those remain in effect until new licenses start April 01. The 3 fish under 90 cm would not apply, as this was a special regulatory option we had to go to IPHC to get in order to help us use up TAC that was un-used due to lower than planned effort (another regulatory tool we are pursuing at IPHC again at this year's annual meeting.
Fun times.
because theres the option to not be shut down shouldn’t you be more risky? Instead of leaving so much in the water? not trying to be offensive but just makes common sense to push more because of it and not leave opportunity in the ocean, time after time leaving that in the water just irks me
searun
Well-Known Member
I should have said also, that hearing Feb 1 is still an important fishery opportunity, perhaps worth putting on our thinking caps to find a way around how the timing of SFAB MB meetings sort of ties our hands. Looking closer at IPHC, Feb 1 is in the regulatory framework and this is a season where based on the Set Line Survey Data it demonstrates improving biomass - likely see something like 80,000 more pounds if everything at IPHC shakes out as it appears may be possible. So at least given improving biomass for this current upcoming season, we aren't as concerned about early season effort, and also having to run the same regulations as are printed on the current licenses which remain in effect until March 31 - other words we can't change them downward if there were concerns about available TAC. Tire kicking some ideas.
searun
Well-Known Member
Not exactly, for as you know using the overage provision, is paying it forward to be deducted from the next season's TAC - sort of like how Trudope is running the economy printing endless amounts of funny money...live for today and don't worry about tomorrow.
Bent-Tip
Well-Known Member
So my thinking cap speaks to putting Feb 1, 2023 on this year's fishing plan to be discussed as an opening date for 2023 if there is remaining quota from 2022-2023 season. Table it at this year's meeting for conditional approval for next year.
