SFAB's Unofficial Handbbok.

[Mr. Dean]

I received the SFAB "Unofficial Handbook" Friday night. I spent the weekend reading through the entire 170 pages... Yes I'm still learning new shtuff!

Some interesting points are contained within this 'book'.

quote:Originally posted by Concerned Angler

Guys-- yes it is a bit hard to follow unless you are prepared to do an awful lot of reading. I wont pull up the specific pages from the IPHC again as I am on dial-up..... takes forever as they are massive PDF files.

But , in a nutshell, what it comes down to is that there are a cpuple of year classes that are a small amount below average biomass.. BUTTTT (pun intended) there are ALSO a couple of the younger (2-3 ages) that are ABOVE and if allowed to grow up, will provide an increasing number of fish for us to harvest.

So-- if there is a need to slow down the capture rate... who should the government lean on? Us? or the commercial fleet? We take only 12% and our average catch size is much smaller than the commercial fleet (JO Thomas study of BC recreational halibut), or does it make sense to slow down the guys that get 88%, with a MUCH larger fish size....

And I'll let someone else get into what a sport landing is worth vs a commercial fish.

Finally--go to the home page of the IHPC. There is a massive amount of data there-- things like the lost longline data, which amounts to 10s of thousands of pounds of dead halibut that feed crabs.

While it is generally believed/accepted that there is more Hali's swimming around in the ocean now, than there was 20 yrs ago; it would appear that there’s a question of the sustainability of commercial legal fish.

Over time, the minimum size has increased for the commercial sector. It started out @ 24” then went to 26” and now is set at 32 inches.

It would also appear that, due to market price, the CF would love to kick back the barn doors in an exchange for the dropping of the legal size limit by 5cm - Take on a maximum and a new minimum restriction(s).


Maybe it’s time for a re-vamp of the Commercial Fishery???
There’s some sound data that would back this but it would appear that IHPC isn't eager to jump on this(?).

Thoughts?