From the January 26, 2018 IPHC News Release: The IPHC did not agree on new Pacific halibut catch limits for 2018, and therefore the catch limits adopted by the IPHC in 2017 remain in place. Both Contracting Parties, Canada and the United States of America, indicated their intention to pursue lower catch limits for 2018 via domestic regulatory processes. The IPHC approved a fishing period (season) of 24 March – 7 November 2018 for the Canadian and U.S. quota-share fisheries. The treaty tribal commercial fisheries and the incidental Pacific halibut fisheries in IPHC Regulatory Area 2A will occur within these dates. In IPHC Regulatory Area 2A, seven 10-hour fishing periods for the non-treaty directed commercial fishery are recommended: 27 June, 11 July, 25 July, 8 August, 22 August, Read more…
Category: IPHC
IPHC 2018 Recommended Catch Limits
This week IPHC also met for their Interim Meeting in Seattle. The recommended catch limits and a comparison of last years catch limits are here. The Commission has moved from the ‘Blue Line’ to a Spawning Potential Ratio (SPR) this a reference of fishing intensity and ratio of spawning biomass compared to fishing levels. The 2017 catch limits equaled an SPR of 40% and the recommended 2018 catch limits would be an SPR of 46%. TCEY is Total Constant Exploitable Yield or total amount of halibut removals over 26” in length and FCEY is Fishery Constant Exploitable Yield or the amount of directed fisheries halibut. The 2018 TCEY is a reduction of 24% from the catch limits adopted in 2017 and projections indicate that the target fishing intensity of SPR46 is likely to result in similar but Read more…
IPHC Interim Meeting
The IPHC Interim Meeting will be held Tuesday, November 28th-Wednesday, November 29th from 8am to 4 pm daily. To register to participate remotely via Webinar, please follow this link: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/7155427446809338881 The meeting documents for the IPHC Interim Meeting are here: http://iphc.int/meetings-and-events/interim-meeting/im093-documents.html
Important Upcoming Dates
Purse Seine Task Force meeting Tuesday, November 28, from 9:00am-5:00 pm in Ketchikan at the Ted Ferry Civic Center Drift Gillnet Task Force meeting Wednesday, November 29, from 9:00-5:00 pm in Ketchikan at the Ted Ferry Civic Center Southeast Alaska Regional Planning Team Thursday, November 30, from 9:00-5:00 pm in Ketchikan at the Ted Ferry Civic Cener North Pacific Fishery Management Council December 4-12, in Anchorage at the Hilton Young Fishermen’s Summit December 6-8 in Anchorage at the Dena’Ina Center King and Tanner Task Force meeting Thursday, December 7, 2017 from 1pm-4pm in Douglas at the ADF&G building and Petersburg at the Tide’s Inn Conference room IPHC Harvest Regulatory Proposal deadline 5pm Saturday, December 23 Board of Fish Southeast Shellfish Read more…
IPHC Annual Meeting Pre-Registration
The 94th IPHC Annual Meeting will be held January 22-26 at the Hilton Downtown Portland. New this year, the meeting will require attendees to pre-register. Please follow this registration link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2018-iphc-annual-meeting-am094-tickets-35265063755
2017 Catch Limits
To view the 2017 Catch Limits compared to recent years click here.
New IPHC Commissioner
Linda Behnken has been chosen to replace interim IPHC commissioner Jeff Kauffman for the Alaska resident seat. Bob Alverson will continue to serve in the non-Alaska US seat. These positions are two year terms and may be re-appointed.