uncan Fields, a Kodiak resident on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) made a protest vote against next year’s halibut bycatch levels this week at a council meeting in Anchorage.
As part of its December meeting the council sets next year’s bycatch limits for groundfish fisheries in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. Since 1986, the trawl fleet has been allowed a halibut bycatch of 2,000 metric tons in the Gulf of Alaska.
This year Fields said the bycatch was too much because catch limits for fishermen targeting halibut are predicted to go down sharply next year. He was the only member of the 11-member council to vote against the limits.
“I said I cannot in a good conscience continue to allocate 2,000 metric tons to the trawl fleet on a year when halibut biomass is down 18 percent,” Fields explained after the meeting.
He said he hopes his vote will not be construed as “anti-trawler.”
“My intent is not to limit the trawling fleet,” he said. “My intent is to assist the trawlers in finding ways to catch the fish more efficiently.”
He also said he is by no means the only member of the council concerned about bycatch.
Also at the meeting, the council took on long-term regulations for bycatch of both halibut and chinook salmon in the Gulf of Alaska.
For chinook salmon, caught by pollock boats in record numbers this fall, some of these regulations are on a fast track and could go into effect by 2012. Other regulations for the same issue will take longer, Fields explained.
“The fast train isn’t going to carry as much baggage or passengers, but it’s moving,” he said. “The slow train is a freight train and it’s got a lot of tools and regulatory policies and when it does reach final action it’s going to do a lot to protect Gulf chinook”The “fast train” regulations include expanded observer coverage and a hard bycatch limit on the pollock fleet, possibly between 15,000 and 30,000 pounds of chinook salmon.
The added observer coverage would introduce fishery obs
ervers to pollock boats less than 60 feet long.
The larger, slower packet of regulations includes bycatch limits for groundfish fisheries besides pollock, a requirement for 100 percent retention of non-targeted fish and the creation of mandatory bycatch reduction co-ops.
These regulations will take longer to study and are not likely to be considered for years. Regulations for halibut bycatch are also likely years away.
Concerns about bycatch aside, Alaska groundfish can look forward to a good year next year. The NPFMC also passed catch limits for groundfish this week including hefty increases for pollock and Pacific cod according to fish reporter Wesley Loy’s Deck Boss blog.
In the Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Islands the pollock limit is up 13.5 percent from 2010 to 96,215 metric tons. In the Bering Sea it is up 54 percent to 1.25 million metric tons. C
od is up 9 percent to 65,100 tons in the Gulf and 35 percent to 227,950 tons in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands.
The only species with decreased limits are yellowfin sole, Atka mackerel, and sablefish (black cod). The largest drop was for Atka mackerel, which will go down 28 percent to 53,080 metric tons.
Mirror writer Sam Friedman can be reached via e-mail at sfriedman@kodiakdailymirror.com.
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