I'm waiting for some updated reports on catch estimates from WDFW. Remember that under the current CRC reporting format, the 2017 CRCs weren't due until April 2018 and the 2018 CRCs won't be due until April 2019. There is then the lag in collating the CRC data.

I can say, though, that in 2016 (last year I have the data on) that WDFW showed a raw creel count of 591 fish in MA 5,6,7, and 9. They used an expansion factor of 11.7 giving them an expanded catch estimate of 6,611 halibut for those areas. MA 1,2,3, and 4 showed raw CRC counts of 863 fish and an expanded estimate of 9,908 halibut taken.

I would agree that the numbers seem high, but remember that approximately 250,000 halibut CRCs were issued. WDFW doesn't know if each person holding a halibut CRC fished for halibut or not, but they might have so ...... the estimates go up.

We're hopeful that the halibut CRC required of annual saltwater or combination license purchaser who intend to fish for halibut will give us a better count on the actual number of halibut anglers and reduce the estimated harvest numbers to a more reasonable level.