« January 2009 Table of Contents 
News Line: Halibut quota cut recommended
IPHC staff calls for 54-million-pound catch
- Steven Hedlund
January 01, 2009
Pacific halibut may be a tad harder to source this year.
International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) staff in late
November recommended an 11.8 percent cut in the annual halibut
quota, from 60.4 million pounds in 2008 to 54 million pounds in
2009.
If approved by IPHC commissioners at their annual meeting in
Vancouver, British Columbia, from Jan. 13 to 16, it would mark
the quota's fifth consecutive cut. The halibut quota totaled
76.5 million pounds in 2004, a 500,000-pound increase from
2003, but has been slashed in each of the past five years.
This year's quota recommendation is based on last year's
biomass survey and meetings with industry members. The IPHC
manages halibut fishing from Washington to British Columbia to
Alaska.
The largest quota reduction would come off Southeast Alaska,
from 9 million pounds in 2008 to 6.96 million pounds in 2009.
The only quota hikes would come south of the Aleutian
Peninsula, from 10.9 million pounds to 11.67 million pounds,
and north of the western Aleutian Islands, from 1.86 million
pounds to 1.94 million pounds.
There are a total of eight halibut fishing areas. The bulk
of the halibut catch occurs in the Gulf of Alaska and south of
the Aleutian Peninsula. - S.H.