OPINION: It’s time to overhaul commercial halibut management

In 2022, the commercial halibut fishery in the Gulf of Alaska killed and discarded nearly twice as many halibut — nearly one million pounds — as the Gulf of Alaska trawl fleet. This fleet, which largely consists of absentee quota holders from Seattle that lease their quota to a predominately Seattle-based fleet, returns minimal benefit to the state of Alaska relative to the benefits provided by the recreational and charter fisheries.

In 2023, many of us witnessed firsthand this same Seattle-based fleet moving into traditional sport fishing grounds around Seward and Homer, wiping what was once productive halibut fishing grounds close to town and causing significant economic harm to small recreational and charter boats that were unable to travel significant distances to other fishing grounds.

It’s time for Alaskans to ask: Are we actually benefiting from 20 years of quota-based management that monetizes and enshrines commercial preference at the expense of working-class Alaskans? Written comment in advance of the upcoming North Pacific Council meeting sums up the issue well, noting, “It is beyond dispute that the IFQ program has wrecked the fisheries’ economies and culture of (rural Alaskan) communities.”

This could not be more true. For the past two-and-a-half decades, Alaska communities have seen wealth created by the halibut IFQ program migrate to smaller and smaller pools of wealthy quota holders from Seattle. At the same time, we have seen our recreational access dwindle while the commercial halibut fleet has done little to minimize halibut bycatch or improve observer coverage. It is time for a change.

We need to protect historic fishing grounds from industrial commercial long-liners that can harvest a week’s worth of halibut with one haul. We need to anchor fishing rights, both commercial and recreational to active participants that are engaged in the fishery. We need to require that the commercial fleet, which is capable of significant bycatch, be 100% monitored either by human observers or cameras. We need to reduce all halibut bycatch, in both the halibut fishery and bottom trawl fisheries. And finally, we need to allocate more halibut to Alaskans and Alaska-based businesses that live next to the resource.

The North Pacific Council is meeting this week and beginning the process of reviewing the IFQ program. This is the opportunity to bring change to a program that has left many Alaskans behind. If you care, now is the time to get involved.

John Dunfey is the founder and president of Alaska Halibut United, an advocacy group formed to represent recreational halibut fishermen. John is an Alaskan, an avid sport fisherman and a private vessel owner.

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