first of all, nobody has said that sportfishing has caused the decline? of halibut. but the fact is that even with a higher quota this year, imo this will be the shortest halibut season ever in areas 3-4. first, we are losing the first 11 days of may... and then a big chunk of quota is given to a mid-june opener (if that quota was left in may it would last longer... ie more opportunity).

with shorter and shorter seasons, why should we sacrifice the economy of these coastal ports to make it easy on people to reel up fish (if you're catching dogfish, change what you're fishing, and you won't catch them).

yes, halibut stocks are doing well off the washington coast, but the halibut fishery isn't healthy.

btw, well over 70% of the quota is caught by private boats, not charters.

the biggest problem is wdfw is being pressured to change seasons by those who care more about the day or two they want to fish than the health of the sportfishing economies of the north coast.

chris