IPHC Catch Limit Comments - DO IT!

[SerengetiGuide]

Hi everyone,

Was checking out the comments on catch limits to the IPHC from individuals today and saw that I am still the only one to have sent them an email with a viewpoint on area 2B, put link in 2014 IPHC thread. While I realize the comments may not change much in the viewpoint of the IPHC, sitting and doing nothing will do even less. Area 4A must have over a hundred comments, let's try and best them. It takes about 5 minutes of your time. Here is the link once again, let them know area 2B should not be punished for declines in alaska and an out of control trawl fleet in Alaska.

http://www.iphc.int/meetings-and-events/annual-meeting/catch-limit-comments.html

 

[reelfast]

so using that line of thinking, those of us in 2A should be writing to complain about the overharvest and extended seasons in 2B which then translate into our 12 day halibut season, say what??????

sampling to determine biomass is done in each management area independent of all other management areas.

 

[GDW]

No reel fast your government chooses to give you a 12 day season. If you'd like a long season like ours write to your representatives to move quota from your commercial sector to recreational.

 

[ziggy]

No reel fast your government chooses to give you a 12 day season. If you'd like a long season like ours write to your representatives to move quota from your commercial sector to recreational.

Your wasting your time GDW.

 

[SerengetiGuide]

so using that line of thinking, those of us in 2A should be writing to complain about the overharvest and extended seasons in 2B which then translate into our 12 day halibut season, say what??????

sampling to determine biomass is done in each management area independent of all other management areas.

Why are you even on here? And according to iphc numbers 2B total catch (comm + rec) hasn't been over for at least the past 4 years. Not sure about 2009 and before as we were always -2% on interim meeting slides

 

[Fish Assassin]

Likely cause he's one of the Yankee fishermen that comes here to rape and pillage our waters for the resources then runs home whining the the Canadians are killing all of our fish.

 

[ziggy]

A bit harsh don't you think

 

[reelfast]

Likely cause he's one of the Yankee fishermen that comes here to rape and pillage our waters for the resources then runs home whining the the Canadians are killing all of our fish.

no, you do a fine job of that without any outside help from me.

 

[Fish Assassin]

A bit harsh don't you think

I don't think so at all. I find it funny that we whine about the Yankees north of us that have some of the best fisheries as they intercept our fish, and the Yankees south us whine about our fishery and what we are doing here. The same guys whining and complaining travel here and fish our waters regularly. So if they were actually heard and could prove their points and limit our catch where would they go next Alaska. If we should limit anything it would be them in our waters. Every time we sell the a licence they take from our TAC and put pressure on our resources. Personally I would rather have food on my table before selling our resources. I'd like to see a restriction in place making these guys hire our guides/charters and be restricted from possessing an annual licence.

But that's me.... I have my opinion and so do they. They may not like mine and I personally don't care how they feel about it.

 

[reelfast]

Xenophobia continues to reign on this board. too bad as many folks down this way care deeply about doing what we can to help preserve your environment and resources. but pisisn' on our shoes is bound to result in folks down this way just shaking their heads and walking away from your fights.

simply reposting this thread from a year ago would have served the purpose as nothing new is being said today. the fact is too many of you don't understand the biomass estimation process and continue to believe that if AK reigned in their wasteful ways that would result in more fish for you. and, as usual, not a single peep focused on the rec angling community and what you contribute to this problem, not a peep, always the other guy doing it to 'yah. that is whining at the gold medal level and it guarantees you will just continue to spin your wheels.

paying for a non resident license should be the least of your worries as all of Canada's economy is based on resource extraction, so what do you expect to happen?? and yes, I know, the US has major problems of our own. but, I don't have any problem admitting that or attempting to do my part to effect change. and it sure is OK with me if you wish to point things out, makes for a better understanding and discussion.

and keep in mind that 'our' salmon make up the abundance of the catch you folks enjoy. so why not drop that stupid argument once and for all and realize that fish know no borders. or should the US take the position of forcing a total closure of WCVI salmon fishing for our fish! see how stupid that sounds?

 

[GDW]

I welcome each and every "Yankee" fisherman to our waters. Come! Rent a boat, hire a guide or bring your own boat. Heck, Fish from shore if you want just come fish! Enjoy our season, catch and keep a portion of our halibut TAC. Load up on salmon. Then tell your friends how great we have it and send them up too.

Honestly with the staggering # of American hatchery chinooks we catch here how can anyone refuse to share our halibut?

Reelfast keep coming the only thing I have issue with is your comment about rec fishers not taking responsibility for our effect on the population. We have very little effect (15% of Canada's TAC as you know) so there is not much we as a community can do to help the fish besides releasing the big breeders which we did last season and may do in the future depending how things go.

 

[Fish Assassin]

and keep in mind that 'our' salmon make up the abundance of the catch you folks enjoy. so why not drop that stupid argument once and for all and realize that fish know no borders. or should the US take the position of forcing a total closure of WCVI salmon fishing for our fish! see how stupid that sounds?

Yours, yours, yours....... Stupid YES It would be like us shouting down the Alaskan fleet. Not a bad idea though.

Got better things to do then fight with a Yank.....

Good Luck..... Merry Christmas

 

[fish4all]

Hi everyone,

Was checking out the comments on catch limits to the IPHC from individuals today and saw that I am still the only one to have sent them an email with a viewpoint on area 2B, put link in 2014 IPHC thread. While I realize the comments may not change much in the viewpoint of the IPHC, sitting and doing nothing will do even less. Area 4A must have over a hundred comments, let's try and best them. It takes about 5 minutes of your time. Here is the link once again, let them know area 2B should not be punished for declines in alaska and an out of control trawl fleet in Alaska.

http://www.iphc.int/meetings-and-events/annual-meeting/catch-limit-comments.html

Good thread to Start serengeti. Glad to see some people spoke up form area 2B.

 

[fish4all]

so using that line of thinking, those of us in 2A should be writing to complain about the overharvest and extended seasons in 2B which then translate into our 12 day halibut season, say what??????

sampling to determine biomass is done in each management area independent of all other management areas.

Although the sampling is done in each area that only contributes to the big number of biomass. Unfortunately it is the apportionment model that distributes the biomass into each area that has never worked. This is where all of area 2 is getting screwed and area 3 and 4 benefit(although looking at there wpue it looks like they are getting screwed by massive over harvesting). How can area 2c have a huge increase in survey and commercial wpue and still not really get a reasonable increase. Area 2b is having some of the best fishing we have seen in decades and we are being asked to take a cut of 35%. We have been harvesting 7 million lbs for the last few years and our stock is still improving. Again it is the apportionment model that is completely flawed and the fact that they take the mortalities from area 3 and 4 off the top instead of making each area independently responsibleis not helping.

i will agree with you that the finger pointing from all areas and sectors does not help the cause.

Merry Christmas all.

 

[searun]

I heard the same things as fish4all. That many commercial fishers experienced the best fishing in many years. What I was hearing was the average weight per skate was way up in number and average pounds. I checked the IPHC catch data from 2004 to 2013, but could not find that relationship in their data. Here's a brief look at the data for 2009 - 2013:


Over 32" Pounds Caught
2013 95009
2012 70130
2011 81101
2010 120539
2009 102353

Under 32" Pounds Caught
2013 25645
2012 19674
2011 21826
2010 40864
2009 38049

Over 32" Number of Hali Caught
2013 4149
2012 3132
2011 3669
2010 5628
2009 4409

Under 32" Number of Hali Caught
2013 3232
2012 2474
2011 2693
2010 4983
2009 4764

Average Weight Over 32"
2013 22.9 lbs
2012 22.39
2011 22.1
2010 21.4
2009 23.24

Average Weight Under 32"
2013 7.93 lbs
2012 7.95
2011 8.1
2010 8.2
2009 7.98

I'm not sure the data helps us make that case, and this is what IHPC will be using to pound us. Maybe I'm missing something? Fish4all can you point me in the right direction here.

Tx

 

[fish4all]

http://www.iphc.int/meetings/2013im/presentations/AssessmentIM2013.pdf

slide 15 and 18 pretty much tell the story. Taking into account that 2b had a 30% increase in wpue last year in survey and a -10% this year but the trend is still positive and at some of our highest levels in years.

 

[fish4all]

slide 22 is interesting in that it shows the average weight at age in all of area 2 is also increasing. Time for all of area 2 to join together and get this apportionment model off the table.

 

[GLG]

slide 22 is interesting in that it shows the average weight at age in all of area 2 is also increasing. Time for all of area 2 to join together and get this apportionment model off the table.

See, here is something we both agree on.
Care to guess what the average weight increase from 2013 to 2014 would be.
I was thinking on using 8%, could that be too low?

 

[searun]

Yes, I'm guessing we are looking at a modest increase in average WPUE in 2014 so agree with your 8%. Basing that to some degree on the shifting age class trend towards more older fish contributing to the catch. Hopefully over time that shift will turn around the trend towards fewer new recruits making it into the fishery.

Agree also in working together (all Canadian fishers) in addressing concerns over the allocation formula.

Looks like IPHC is pressing use of 3 current models to average out the effects of each model, but still pressing to stick to the blue line reduction to 19.7% harvest rate or 36 million pounds, with no regard for commensurate adjustments in the allocation based on local trends within each area. Sure looks to me that Area 2b and 2c are getting royally screwed considering those trends as compared to other areas. So I agree our share of the overall allocation % should be more than it is even if we are capped at the blue line.

What I'm not seeing is the longer term positive trending in the survey results to take us to higher than prior year total allocation. To get there wouldn't the numbers our area need to show a long term increase, whereas what I see is statistically flat (maybe slight increase). Doesn't that play into the IPHC argument? Or, is there more merit in examining the commercial WPUE which actually shows considerably more positive trends (+8% and longer term positive trend)?

I'm not sure I can explain (or fully understand) the difference between the survey catch data and the commercial WPUE catch data - anyone help me on that?

 

[fish4all]

The survey is based on the 10 square mile grid pattern and carries more weight than the commercial wpue. The commercial wpue is traditionally higher as commercial fishers normally target halibut hot spots and thus our average wpue is higher. What is not taken into account is that with the low Hali tac many commercial guys are targeting cod and using their halibut itq as by catch. Had the fleet targeted Hali the commercial wpue would have been higher.