The NP Council December Newsletter is out. December’s decisions on the Charter Halibut RQE are summarized. This will be in an additional initial review tentatively set for April. The action would allow the charter sector to purchase halibut IFQ from 2c and 3a to be added to the guided recreational allocation and therefore loosen charter halibut management measures. The next review will look at transfer restrictions of 5 to 20% versus the 10 to 40% considered in December. The council doesn’t have jurisdiction over the funding source for the RQE, but can restrict the use of funds acquired by the proposed non-profit. Finally, alternative three changed from retiring latent charter permits to allowing the RQE to purchase and hold them.
In December, the Council made their Charter Halibut recommendations for IPHC for 2016. These are a one-fish daily bag limit and reverse slot limit of under 42″ and over 80” for 2c. For 3a two-fish daily bag limit with a maximum size of 28” for one of the fish, limit each vessel and Charter Halibut Permit to one trip per calendar day, four-fish annual limit, prohibit Charter Halibut fishing on Wednesdays for the entire year. These are proposed regulations to be decided on at the IPHC Annual Meeting in January.
http://www.npfmc.org/wp-content/PDFdocuments/newsletters/news1215.pdf