Fishing

As season cranks up, new restrictions greet Alaska halibut anglers

As another halibut fishing season cranks up with the opening of the months-long Homer Jackpot Halibut Derby, Southcentral charter boat anglers who pursue Alaska's hefty and tasty flatfish face another year of restrictions — more restrictive rules that will affect such popular ports as Homer, Seward, Whittier and Kodiak, or what federal officials call Area 3A. Among them:

  • A two-fish daily bag limit, with one of the two measuring no more than 28 inches, typically a “chicken” halibut under 12 pounds. That’s an inch shorter than last year when many charter boat captains reported difficulty finding fish small enough to satisfy the requirement.
  • No fishing on Wednesdays for charters.
  • An annual limit of four halibut, down one fish from last year, for charter boat anglers.
  • Just one fishing trip per day. Charters can still run overnight trips, with anglers allowed to keep a two-fish limit each day, but operators cannot begin a second overnight trip until the day after the trip ends.

It's worth noting that halibut caught on private boats without a guide "will not accrue toward the annual limit," according to a description of the regulations in the Federal Register.

[Are Alaska halibut and salmon shrinking?]

The rules are an effort by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) — hewing to recommendations by the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) — to cap a rising harvest and bolster Alaska's halibut stocks, particularly larger fish.

Overall, the IPHC slightly boosted the catch limits off Alaska's shores to 29.9 million pounds for 2016.

The notable exception was Area 3A, where the catch exceeded the allocation by 9.2 percent, "primarily because the halibut that were caught … by charter vessel anglers (last season) were 9 percent heavier, on average, than predicted" because, according to the federal agency, many more anglers held out for a big fish, releasing legal fish of middling size.

The result, according to NOAA: "Management measures are necessary to manage total charter removals" — specifically, to cap them at 1.8 million pounds, "15,ooo pounds below the charter allocation" imposed a year ago.

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The sport take of halibut is dwarfed by commercial halibut fishermen, who take about 80 percent of the total catch.

"I think one of the biggest impacts of the new regs is the four-fish annual bag limit," said Gerri Martin, co-owner with husband Sean of North Country Charters, which has operated out of Homer since 1979. "That's the biggest complaint. That can be just two trips for the entire summer."

She predicted that some halibut anglers will choose to bring home only the one large fish of the two-fish limit in an effort to be able to take more halibut trips over the summer.

"More people are combo-ing too. Maybe get a halibut and get some salmon trolling too."

But so far, Martin said the new rules haven't hurt business. "The bulk of the summer is more booked up earlier than we've ever seen it — and not just my company, either. Last year really booked up early too.  This year even more so."

But some anglers being fined by the feds are pleading ignorance. Last June, Anchorage's Ron Krause went out on an overnight two-limit charter out of Homer and on a six-pack charter out of Ninilchik. The six halibut put him one over last year's limit of five flatfish and resulted in a citation with a $200 fine.

"It was the first either of us had every heard of it," said his father and fishing companion, Ralph Lee of Trapper Creek. Krause was surprised too.

"A special agent from NOAA called me to verify that it happened – and then sent me a $200 fine in the mail. I assume he knew from the log book on the boat. The captain has to turn those in.

"Everybody I asked didn't know that was the rule. I wish the captain (of the charter) had told me."

Karen Zak, executive director of the Homer Chamber of Commerce, said the biggest impact may be among anglers who came to Homer to fish for halibut for several days and returned home with lots of filets that sometimes exceed $20 a pound in local markets.

"Absolutely, there are people whining about it," she said.  "For us the biggest impact is derby ticket sales, one of our biggest fund-raisers."

Last year, Zak said, about 10,433 Homer derby tickets were sold, a number down 31 percent since 2004.  That means the money going to the angler catching the biggest fish has shrunk too. Linda Scott of Bloomington, Minnesota, reeled in the biggest derby fish last year, a 224-pounder, the lightest winner in the derby's 30-year history and 134 pounds shy of the 2007 record fish.

Scott earned $15,216, less than a third of of what 2004 derby champion Don Sparks earned for his hefty winner.

Mike Campbell

Mike Campbell was a longtime editor for Alaska Dispatch News, and before that, the Anchorage Daily News.

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