Unconfirmed reports have it that the IPHC staff is about split on whether halibut fishing opportunities should be entirely shut down for at least three years to allow for recovery of the stocks.
Confirmed observations from the fishing grounds are that halibut are indeed scarce, with returning longliners for the most part catching only a small fraction of their intended deliveries.
Dragger crews report lots of halibut PSC bycatch of small fish. But the drag fleet can't be cut back, remember? Now is the time to move the NPFMC off of center and get them to take action on halibut bycatch. Two weeks left to get in written testimony. We need you.
KYFW
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4 comments:
Any word on how much halibut is missing yet?
No, but maybe other readers have an idea.
Not sure the npfmc is the route to a solution.
The npfmc IS the problem, more so than the draggers who are just operating under the existing rules in the most profitable way for themselves.
We can't see the forest for the trees. The npfmc is like doing away with congress and letting Jack Abramoff set policy.
Many trawl skippers would be happy to work under a system that rewarded them for less bycatch, not punished them for it.
The solution is public outcry at all the lost jobs, lost fish tax and lost future opportunity that trawl bycatch causes.
While I agree with your frustration in dealing with a Council who seems to only reacts when it smells big money; to work with the system is all we have. To not take action now, with a show of unity is a fool's paradise. KYFW
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