Dogfish-

They don't allow sale of bycatch because they are concerned that fishermen would then FOCUS their catch on "bycatch". Halibut is worth far more than flounder...

I'm one of the whiny sport charter fishermen who is lobbying for a share of the halibut pie. Right now in the state, longliners take roughly 64% of the halibut, trawlers kill 14%, and charter boats and private boats COMBINED take about 12%. That means that more fish are caught, crushed, and thrown back overboard each year than are caught with rod and reel. Now NOAA wants to cut back the amount sportfishermen on charter boats can harvest. NOAA seems fine with allowing 14% of the resource to be wasted, but the concept of 12% being caught by the American Public really rubs them wrong.

It should be noted that NOAA is at this time only trying to cut back on those halibut harvested by sportfishermen on charter boats, but in truth, charter boats are the only way that most Americans can have access to this public resource. Unless someone wants to drag their boat 3000 miles to Alaska and back, they're stuck going with a charter.

-david