A hard fought battle by stakeholders of Alaska's halibut resource to limit the incidental harvest of the prized fish is taking a step forward, in a move calculated by federal fisheries managers to give Gulf of Alaska groundfish fisheries time to adjust.
The action before the North Pacific Fishery Management Council at Kodiak at June 8 came after extensive testimony mostly for, but also against putting in place a 15 percent reduction in the tons of halibut taken annually in Gulf of Alaska groundfish fisheries. Under the motion passed by a 10-1 vote, the bycatch reduction will be phased in at 7 percent in 2014, then 5 percent in 2015 and 3 percent in 2016.
More than 1,500 people signed onto a letter asking the council for the reduction in the bycatch quota, particularly in the face of declining halibut stocks and a decline in the average size of the succulent flatfish.
The motion approved a 15 percent reduction in bycatch in the trawl and hook and line gear in the catcher vessel fleet, plus a 7 percent reduction in bycatch in the freezer-longliner catcher processor boats.
Jonathan Warrenchuk, an ocean scientist with Oceana, a conservation group dedicated to protection of the world's oceans, said the phased in approach was a bit of a surprise. "It is pretty clear, this is just a Band Aid," he said. "The halibut resource looks like it is in trouble and managers are making big cuts, but the cuts were needed now. They weren't even considering a large number to begin with. This is too much of a compromise."
Still, Warrenchuk calculated that when fully in place in 2016, the action would result in a reduction of over 300 metric tons of halibut annually.
Linda Behnken, executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen's Association in Sitka, and a long time advocate of sharing the responsibility of resource sustainability among the stakeholders, thanked the council "for taking meaningful action to protect our halibut resource. Behnken said she was speaking on behalf of the longliner association, and the more than 1,500 sport, commercial, subsistence harvesters and other halibut users in Alaska who called for reducing the waste.
"What we are saying is that at this point it is important to reduce exploitation on the stocks by all users to protect that rebuilding potential of the stock," she said.
Behnken reminded the council that in the late 1980s, when the previous halibut bycatch allowance was determined for Gulf of Alaska groundfish fisheries, that the commercial catch limit was 69 million pounds. By 2012, the International Pacific Halibut Commission had, in a series of conservation efforts of its own, lowered the allowable commercial catch to 34 million pounds. "Fifteen percent is a reasonable compromise," she said.
"This action will help protect the health of the halibut population and the jobs of thousands of commercial and charter halibut fishermen in our coastal communities who rely on halibut," said Theresa Peterson, a fish harvester and Kodiak outreach coordinator for the Alaska Marine Conservation Council. "We applaud the council for taking this important first step and we look forward to the future action by fishery managers to further limit bycatch for the long-term health of the halibut resource," she said.
"The council," said Alaska Commissioner of Fish and Game Cora Campbell, "is moving to minimize bycatch to the extent practicable given the situation the fleet is in now. " The phased cutback in bycatch limits is to provide time for the gulf groundfish industry to adjust to the reductions, she said.
Council chairman Eric Olson said the phased bycatch reduction would help incrementally but that tools needed to be developed to help the fleet deal with less halibut and he hoped that discussion would begin quickly.
Julie Bonney, executive director of the Alaska Groundfish Data Bank in Kodiak , proposed a five year research plan to find out what is causing the decline in the halibut biomass and size of the halibut. She urged the council to refrain from bycatch reductions until the matter had been studied further and tools developed to reduce the bycatch.
Making a big cut on the trawl side is not going to increase the productivity of halibut stocks, she said.
The council also heard proposed amendments from its own membership to reduce the bycatch limits and to increase the phased in approach.
Council member John Henderschedt, of, Seattle, proposed reducing the bycatch limit by 12 percent, rather than 15 percent, while council member Bill Tweit, of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife offered an amendment to the motion to stretch the phased in reduction in halibut bycatch limits to four years, in order to allow more time to develop tools to help reduce the bycatch.
Both amendments failed.
The trawl fisheries have been under fire for decades because of the huge nets they use, which catch many fish other than those they are targeting. By the time those fish are dumped back into the ocean, their mortality rate is negligible.
National standards for fishery conservation and management set down a number of mandates for fisheries managers to follow in all fishery management plans and any regulations promulgated to implement such plans.
Much mention at the Kodiak meeting was made of these national standards, particularly national standards 1, 8 and 9. The first directs that conservation and management measures prevent overfishing while achieving, on a continuing basis, the optimum yield from each fishery for the fishing industry.
National Standard 8 directs that conservation and management measures must take into account the importance of fishery resources to fishing communities and minimize adverse economic impacts on such communities.
National Standard 9 dictates that conservation and management measures shall, to the extent practicable, minimize bycatch and to the extent bycatch cannot be avoided, minimize the mortality of such bycatch.
"People have waited decades for responsive action," said Kodiak's Peterson.
"Thirty-five communities in Alaska are calling for action here. We do not have the luxury to sit back and do nothing at this time."
You can reach Margaret Bauman with comments and suggestions at mbauman@thecordovatimes.com