John Beath and I are attending the International Pacific Halibut Commission annual meeting in Portland this week. Final numbers on the 2018 quotas will be coming out tomorrow. Lots of interesting discussions and presentations about the halibut fishery and industry. Not many sport fishing representatives in attendance. Two from WA, two from CA, and one from OR.

We think you'll find the information in John's link of interest. Millions of young halibut have been killed over the past years by the trawl fleet. There is a closed area that the IPHC designated as a halibut nursery and there is no halibut fishery in the area. There are, however, extensive trawl operations. Out-migration of small halibut from the nursery area are critical to the halibut fishery into SE Alaska, Canada, and our local waters.

There is a need to control by-catch/wastage on small halibut.

https://halibutchronicles.com/2018/01/25/why-are-halibut-stocks-declining/