Nearly 16 million pounds of halibut have been harvested off the West Coast of the United States and Canada so far this season, as fishermen work to meet the International Pacific Halibut Commission’s quota.
In February, the IPHC set the total constant exploitation yield for the United States and Canada at 38.61 million pounds, which is about 4 percent higher than it was last year. In 2018, 96 percent of the 37.21 million-pound quota was harvested, according to IPHC landing reports.
Area 3A (central Gulf of Alaska) has provided the lion’s share of the catch this year, with 5,601,407 pounds of halibut landed. Trailing behind were other areas of Alaska such as Area 2C (southeastern Alaska), with 2,531,209 pounds harvested; Area 3B (western Gulf of Alaska), with 1,278,228 pounds landed; Area 4A (eastern Aleutians), with 628,553 pounds harvested; and Area 4B (central/western Aleutians), with 736,212 pounds landed.
Area 2B (British Columbia) landed 3,598,594 pounds of fish while Area 2A, which is comprised of California, Oregon, and Washington, accounted for 758,568 pounds landed.
This year, some new restrictions were put into place in an attempt to help protect halibut stocks. For example, charter operators were prohibited from operating trips on Tuesdays from 16 July to 13 August.
In 2018, the IPHC was unable to agree on quotas for the season, and as a result the quota remained the same as the year before. Before last year, the last time the United States and Canada could not come to a quota agreement was nearly a century ago. The main sticking point for the negotiations had been the amount of halibut that Canada was allowed. Recently, Canada has taken about 20 percent of the catch – a U.S. proposal during the negotiations suggested that the number was closer to 12 percent this year, and a compromise was reached at 17.7 percent.
Photo coutesy of Earl D. Walker/Shutterstock
