Halibut opening

[GLG]

If a guy is allowed 6 halibut a year, and for simplicity sake lets say half of those can be 115 cm or less and the other half have to be 83 cm or less, why not just add up all the weight cumulatively and allow people to catch their limit in total weight? So lets say a 115 cm halibut weighs 40 lbs, and an 83 cm halibut weighs 15 lbs, then the total annual limit for an angler is 165 lbs. If you want to harvest a 100 lber, go ahead, but you only have 65 lbs left. Provide a simple length vs weight conversion that everyone has to work from. You'd also still have to record your catch so that there's proof of what you caught and you could still only keep one a day, or two possession.

On an average year there are 300K saltwater fishing license sold here in BC. As you may know not all fish for halibut and at this point I'm not sure what percent do but lets say 10% do. That would put that number at 30K and if each one was allocated say 100 lbs then our TAC would be 3 million pounds. Clearly that would be way over TAC so let's do the math another way. 1 million lbs TAC divided by 100 lbs = 10,000 anglers. I think you would need some type of lottery to make that work. Is that something you would support?

 

[Scorpiofisher]

Nope not at all.

 

[GLG]

Nope not at all.

Any idea on how you would allocate the TAC then given those numbers I posted? Don't take offence because that's not my intention just trying to flesh out your idea.

 

[Scorpiofisher]

It's hard based on license numbers...and in the interest of "fairness". To be honest its almost already a lottery. Guys that can get out early and often, who live where halibut fishing is decent, or guides for that sake, have many more opportunities than guys who get a couple of chances a year. Last year guys who had late trips planned ended up cancelling due to the closure....sort of a lottery in a way. I see this just causing more people to fish early, which is simply a race to the bottom scenario. The thought of more allocation to rec fisherman seems unlikely (please please correct me if I'm wrong), and I don't like the present scenario where you can't keep a 45 lber. I read previously about the idea of a halibut stamp. I don't like the idea of having to buy what's rightfully ours as citizens, or to pay someone who was simply given something years ago, but I also don't like what the future holds. I see us already paying to even fish by having to buy a license (which I support), or for a salmon stamp to harvest salmon (which I also support). Maybe we have to see a little pain now for a better future tomorrow, especially if traction through increased rec allocation is unlikely . Rec fisherman need a gofundme page.

 

[wildmanyeah]

I like the idea tho of having a halibut stamp to buy commercial license as they come up so over time recreational fishermen has some system to increase our total % of a located catch.

Al-tho maybe now we can use the fact that they just ratcheted back our Chinook fishery as a reason to compensate us with a better 85/15 deal.

 

[trophywife]

If a guy is allowed 6 halibut a year, and for simplicity sake lets say half of those can be 115 cm or less and the other half have to be 83 cm or less, why not just add up all the weight cumulatively and allow people to catch their limit in total weight? So lets say a 115 cm halibut weighs 40 lbs, and an 83 cm halibut weighs 15 lbs, then the total annual limit for an angler is 165 lbs. If you want to harvest a 100 lber, go ahead, but you only have 65 lbs left. Provide a simple length vs weight conversion that everyone has to work from. You'd also still have to record your catch so that there's proof of what you caught and you could still only keep one a day, or two possession.

i suggested this 3 years ago.. lbs per licence basically.