Sushihunter
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Sunday, June 15, 2008 Story last updated at 6/15/2008 - 2:16 pm
<center>One fish, blue fishermen?: Peninsula charter outfits worry about halibut allocation issue, bag limits</center>
By Jessica Cejnar | Peninsula Clarion
In a lawsuit filed against the Secretary of Commerce, a Supreme Court judge temporarily suspended the one-halibut daily bag limit for charter fishermen in Southeast Alaska on Tuesday, but halibut fishermen and charter association representatives on the Kenai Peninsula worry about possible impacts such a bag limit would have for Southcentral Alaska.
The one-fish daily bag limit for charter vessels in Southeast Alaska was imposed as a result of action taken in January by the International Pacific Halibut Commission after biomass estimates for the commercial fishing fleet went down, said Jane DiCosimo, a fisheries analyst for the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council. The commercial catch limit went down and as a result, the guideline harvest level for sport charters was reduced two steps, she said. The commercial catch limit was reduced due to conservation concerns, DiCosimo said. Even though the reduced bag limit is an allocation action, DiCosimo said it was enacted under a larger conservation umbrella.
"The council said both sectors should be reduced," DiCosimo said.
Even though DiCosimo said the bag limit only affects charters in Southeast, several fishermen on the Kenai Peninsula are concerned of what impact it would have on them. Donna Bondioli, a member of the Alaska Charter Association, said there aren't any restrictions on Southcentral, "but they could be coming."
"The charter association feels that in the State of Alaska, when you buy a fishing license, you buy a fishing license that says you can catch two halibut per person per day," Bondioli said. "By saying that on a charter boat you can only catch one halibut, I feel that's discriminating between people that have their own boats or those people that choose to go for a charter."
Folks in the Ninilchik and Anchor Point areas are concerned about a one-halibut daily bag limit eventually hitting Southcentral, Bondioli said. Unless there's a conservation issue, she said skippers want to be able to take their clients out and get two halibut a day.
"Fishing is very important to the Kenai Peninsula and the economic benefits are huge in our area," she said, adding that charter fishermen aren't the only people to be impacted by this action. "We're very interdependent among each other down here and tourism is a key to the Kenai Peninsula."
Kimberly Tebrugge, a communication consultant working for the Charter Halibut Task Force, said 11 charter skippers filed affidavits to either losing or gaining clients. For the most part the folks gaining clients are from Southcentral Alaska, she said, and are gaining the clients Southeast charters are losing. The task force was able to use that piece of information in its lawsuit, Tebrugge said. With more tourists choosing to fish in Southcentral because of the strict bag limit in Southeast, she said the issue could shift and a one-fish bag limit wouldn't be far behind for Kenai Peninsula charters.
"In October the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council will take a look at allocation across the board for Southeast and Southcentral," Tebrugge said, "and right now the options they are looking at is likely to put Southeast and Southcentral to a one-fish limit as well."
Because of the strained guideline harvest level, rather than institute a more stringent bag limit, Tebrugge said the task force advocates instituting a moratorium on the number of charter halibut businesses that can be started in Southeast and Southcentral.
"You can either buy someone else's business or continue (with an existing business)," she said. "We've been pushing really hard for that."
DiCosimo said even though the task force proposed a moratorium, the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council doesn't think it would result in a significant enough halibut catch reduction that the guideline harvest limit wouldn't be exceeded. The Southeast charter harvest in 2006 was 1,804,000 pounds, approximately 26 percent above the guideline harvest limit of 1,432,000 pounds. Before the bag limit was affected, the council initiated size limitations and limited the number of lines a charter can have per boat. The council also decreed that charter skippers and their crew couldn't fish while they had clients on the water. The reduced bag limit, DiCosimo said, was the worst case scenario.
Rod Van Saun, president of the Deep Creek Charter Boat Association and owner of Van Saun Charters in Ninilchik, said he doesn't think initiating a one-fish bag limit for any guided sport anglers is fair and equitable. If a similar bag limit were initiated for Southcentral Alaska, he said the local economy in Ninilchik would suffer.
"The majority of my clientele won't come here for one fish," he said, adding that the reduced bag limit is a sad story of politics and big money affecting small communities and small businesses. "I applaud the guys in Southeast for being this organized. (The lawsuit) is a big step of bringing our issue to a higher level of recognition and getting us a fair shake."
Jessica Cejnar can be reached at jessica.cejnar@peninsulaclarion.com.
Jim's Fishing Charters
www.JimsFishing.com
http://ca.youtube.com/user/Sushihunter250
<center>One fish, blue fishermen?: Peninsula charter outfits worry about halibut allocation issue, bag limits</center>
By Jessica Cejnar | Peninsula Clarion
In a lawsuit filed against the Secretary of Commerce, a Supreme Court judge temporarily suspended the one-halibut daily bag limit for charter fishermen in Southeast Alaska on Tuesday, but halibut fishermen and charter association representatives on the Kenai Peninsula worry about possible impacts such a bag limit would have for Southcentral Alaska.
The one-fish daily bag limit for charter vessels in Southeast Alaska was imposed as a result of action taken in January by the International Pacific Halibut Commission after biomass estimates for the commercial fishing fleet went down, said Jane DiCosimo, a fisheries analyst for the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council. The commercial catch limit went down and as a result, the guideline harvest level for sport charters was reduced two steps, she said. The commercial catch limit was reduced due to conservation concerns, DiCosimo said. Even though the reduced bag limit is an allocation action, DiCosimo said it was enacted under a larger conservation umbrella.
"The council said both sectors should be reduced," DiCosimo said.
Even though DiCosimo said the bag limit only affects charters in Southeast, several fishermen on the Kenai Peninsula are concerned of what impact it would have on them. Donna Bondioli, a member of the Alaska Charter Association, said there aren't any restrictions on Southcentral, "but they could be coming."
"The charter association feels that in the State of Alaska, when you buy a fishing license, you buy a fishing license that says you can catch two halibut per person per day," Bondioli said. "By saying that on a charter boat you can only catch one halibut, I feel that's discriminating between people that have their own boats or those people that choose to go for a charter."
Folks in the Ninilchik and Anchor Point areas are concerned about a one-halibut daily bag limit eventually hitting Southcentral, Bondioli said. Unless there's a conservation issue, she said skippers want to be able to take their clients out and get two halibut a day.
"Fishing is very important to the Kenai Peninsula and the economic benefits are huge in our area," she said, adding that charter fishermen aren't the only people to be impacted by this action. "We're very interdependent among each other down here and tourism is a key to the Kenai Peninsula."
Kimberly Tebrugge, a communication consultant working for the Charter Halibut Task Force, said 11 charter skippers filed affidavits to either losing or gaining clients. For the most part the folks gaining clients are from Southcentral Alaska, she said, and are gaining the clients Southeast charters are losing. The task force was able to use that piece of information in its lawsuit, Tebrugge said. With more tourists choosing to fish in Southcentral because of the strict bag limit in Southeast, she said the issue could shift and a one-fish bag limit wouldn't be far behind for Kenai Peninsula charters.
"In October the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council will take a look at allocation across the board for Southeast and Southcentral," Tebrugge said, "and right now the options they are looking at is likely to put Southeast and Southcentral to a one-fish limit as well."
Because of the strained guideline harvest level, rather than institute a more stringent bag limit, Tebrugge said the task force advocates instituting a moratorium on the number of charter halibut businesses that can be started in Southeast and Southcentral.
"You can either buy someone else's business or continue (with an existing business)," she said. "We've been pushing really hard for that."
DiCosimo said even though the task force proposed a moratorium, the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council doesn't think it would result in a significant enough halibut catch reduction that the guideline harvest limit wouldn't be exceeded. The Southeast charter harvest in 2006 was 1,804,000 pounds, approximately 26 percent above the guideline harvest limit of 1,432,000 pounds. Before the bag limit was affected, the council initiated size limitations and limited the number of lines a charter can have per boat. The council also decreed that charter skippers and their crew couldn't fish while they had clients on the water. The reduced bag limit, DiCosimo said, was the worst case scenario.
Rod Van Saun, president of the Deep Creek Charter Boat Association and owner of Van Saun Charters in Ninilchik, said he doesn't think initiating a one-fish bag limit for any guided sport anglers is fair and equitable. If a similar bag limit were initiated for Southcentral Alaska, he said the local economy in Ninilchik would suffer.
"The majority of my clientele won't come here for one fish," he said, adding that the reduced bag limit is a sad story of politics and big money affecting small communities and small businesses. "I applaud the guys in Southeast for being this organized. (The lawsuit) is a big step of bringing our issue to a higher level of recognition and getting us a fair shake."
Jessica Cejnar can be reached at jessica.cejnar@peninsulaclarion.com.
Jim's Fishing Charters
www.JimsFishing.com
http://ca.youtube.com/user/Sushihunter250
