The meeting to reconsider the implementation of the charter boat IFQ (Individual Fishing Quota) program is Wednesday October 3 at the Sea-Tac Doubletree Hotel.

Schedule: the meeting starts at 8:00 am. They have a couple small items on the agenda prior to IFQ that day so my best guess is things will be starting between after 8:30 am. But to testify, you must sign up prior to the beginning of public comments.

I encourage anyone who is available to testify against this program. Even if you never plan to charter fish for Halibut in Alaska, it sets a bad precedence to give the charter boat operators ownership of a public resource and give them nearly total control of seasons and bag limits.

These are the Washington State representatives to the NPFMC. If you can not make it to the meeting, please let them know that recreational IFQ's are a bad idea:

Dennis Austin
Washington Dept of Fish & Wildlife
600 Capitol Way N
Olympia, WA
98501-1091
Ph (360)902-2627
Fx (360)902-2182
austiada@dfw.wa.gov

Bundy, John
Glacier Fish Company
1200 Westlake Ave. North, Suite 900
Seattle, WA 98109
Ph (206) 298-1200
Fx (206) 298-4750
John@glacierfish.com

Fluharty, David
School of Marine Affairs
University of Washington
3707 Brooklyn NE
Seattle, WA 98105-6715
Ph (206) 685-2518
Fx (206) 543-1417
fluharty@u.washington.edu

For detailed information about IFQ's, visit the NPFMC website listed below.
http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc/Committees/Halibut%20Issues/Halibut.htm