Commercial catch limit declines by over 18%
Halibut fishermen, sport charter operators and subsistence users will all face lesser takes of the prized fish again this year as the Pacific stock continues to flounder.
That sums up the bleak news at the the 101st Session of the IPHC Annual Meeting 101st annual meeting of the International Pacific Halibut Commission which wrapped up on Friday in British Columbia.
“This year’s meeting was decidedly somber and tense as stakeholders grappled with the consequences of the lowest spawning biomass in 40 years,” said Maddie Lightsey of Alaska Boats and Permits in Homer. “There was consensus on the need for substantial cuts, resulting in a coastwide cut to total removals of 15.6% and a 18% cut to the commercial catch limits.
Pacific halibut fishing regions Image credit: ResearchGate
The IPHC annual meeting report says that in terms of coastwide stock distribution, after increases in 2020-2021, the proportion of the stock in Biological Region 3 decreased in 2022-24 to the lowest estimate in the time-series. This trend occurred in tandem with increases in Biological Region 2.
The report said that the lack of survey sampling in Biological Region 4B in 2023-24 “has resulted in increased uncertainty in both the trend and scale of the stock distribution in this region.” Meanwhile, the IPHC is facing a funding crisis that might cause severe cutbacks in the annual halibut stock surveys.
The annual report added that directed commercial fishery catch rates coastwide in nearly all IPHC Regulatory Areas were at or near the lowest observed in the last 40 years. The absolute level of spawning biomass is also estimated to be near the lowest observed since the 1970s.
The report explained that “the directed commercial fishery transitioned from the 2005 year-class to the 2012 year-class in 2022, with the 2012 year-class again the most numerous in the landed catch in 2023-24. This shift from older to younger (and smaller fish) has contributed to observed reduced catch rates. The current spawning stock is heavily reliant on the 2012 and now 2016 year-classes.”
It concluded that “Environmental conditions continue to be unpredictable, with important deviations from historical patterns in both oceanographic and biological processes observed across the stock range in the last decade.”
The 2025 halibut fishery will open at 6:00 am on March 20 and close at 11:59 pm on December 7.
Halibut charts provided courtesy of Alaska Boats and Permits in Homer.
