United Southeast Alaska Gillnetter’s Association

By Margaret Bauman
Reprinted from the Alaska Journal of Commerce

A new fishery management program announced Jan. 4 is expected to stabilize the contentious guided sport halibut fishery by permanently limiting participation to some 920 vessels in Southeast and the Central Gulf of Alaska regions.

The permit plan – with a 60 day application period to begin in February – would include 502 vessels in Southeast Alaska, and 418 vessels in the Central Gulf of Alaska, which includes Cook Inlet, said Jay Ginter, regulatory branch chief for the National Marine Fisheries Service in Juneau.

The new plan, previously approved by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, will go into effect on Feb. 1, 2011. It grew out of a need to stabilize harvests from the guided sport fishery, which were increasing annually and coming in well beyond the guideline harvest level in some areas.

The Alaska IFQ halibut and sablefish fisheries are an important fisheries management program not just for Alaska, but the entire world. Lessons from this fishery have shaped and will continue to shape the design of quota programs around the globe.

We greatly appreciate your assistance in answering this short survey on crew makeup in the current halibut and sablefish fisheries. Comparatively little data are available regarding crew and their connection to regional economies. With your help this survey will fill in some of those missing pieces. Results from this survey allow us to measure the economic impact of the quota share holders and crew on different communities throughout the North Pacific.

December 7, 2009, 10am-5:30 pm.
Ketchikan, Alaska

Presentations were made as follows:

• Bo Meredith – Tree Point
• Scott Forbes – POW/Stikine
• Dave Harris – Taku/Snettisham
• Randy Bachman (presented by Bill Davidson) – Lynn Canal
• Andy Piston – escapements and McDonald Lake update
• Eric Prestegard – DIPAC
• Lon Garrision – NSRAA
• Susan Doherty – SSRAA
• Bob Gubernick – USFS (information about stream rehabilitation program)

Discussion/Questions during presentations:

Tree Point – concern was expressed about Canadian interception of enhanced Nakat chums.  Bo:  It’s not a treaty issue but there was a suggestion to ask the Canadians for more data about harvests.

POW/Stikine – Discussion issue #3—there was no mid-week opening in District 8 during week 29, the first week of McDonald Lake sockeye conservation under the Action Plan.  Scott: sockeye harvests were declining, and there was concern over the Tahltan harvest being over the TAC.  Harvest wound up just slightly over the AC.  Troy: week 29 is getting into the end of the Tahltan run and into the mainstem run.  A suggestion was made about uncoupling D6 & D8 fishing times.  Scott explained that McDonald is not driving D8, the Stikine sockeye determined by the Stikine Management  Model based on Kakwan CPUE early/mark-recapture later determines openings.  There is not a problem with timeliness of the data or cooperation with Canadians.  Troy further explained uncoupling could lead to loss of stock composition data due to boat movement between districts. There was a question about if the large number of DIPAC chums caught in D6 was due to a sampling issue by sampling boats that came down from D11. This wasn’t an issue with mixed loads, samplers would not sample mixed fish and it was early in the years when there is not much boat movement between the D11 & D6.

• District 111 2009 Traditional Drift Gillnet Fishery – Taku Inlet and Stephens Passage – 4 meg *.pdf
• 2009 Gillnet District 1 Tree Point Drift Gillnet Fishery – Bo Meredith, Assistant Area Management Biologist, ADF&G – 761 kB *.pdf
• 2009 Southeast Alaska Salmon Escapement Summary – 148 kB *.pdf
• 2009 Lynn Canal District 15 Commercial Drift Gillnet Fishery Summary and Outlook for 2010 – 2.5 meg *.pdf
• 2009 District 6 and 8 Drift Gillnet Fishery Summary – 2 meg *.pdf

The United Fishermen of Alaska met in Seattle this year (November 17-19^th) in conjunction with the Fish Expo.  USAG is a member of UFA and designates a representative to work with other fishery groups from across the state on statewide and national issues affecting all commercial fishermen and gillnetters in some way or another.

Some of this year’s hot topics included: National Health Care, Oil Development in the Outer Continental Shelf particularly in Bristol Bay and north of the Aleutians, Marine Safety Legislation going through Congress, Fishermen Fund Legislation before the state legislature, Halibut Charter Lawsuits and upcoming issues on halibut, Crew data collection, Growing expansion of the SE sea otter populations, Protection of spawning beds and fisheries concerns under the Alaska Coastal Management Program amongst many other issues.

Gillnetters – many of you will be happy to know that the charter lawsuit challenging the one-fish bag limit and the challenge to the charter allocation has been won by the Halibut Coalition. The Halibut Coalition is the umbrella group fighting the charter industry on many of these issues with regards to allocation and over-fishing by the charter industry. USAG, ALPHA, SEAFA, PSVOA, and many other groups and individuals have been putting a great deal of time and money into the Halibut Coalition’s efforts. There are a number of folks to thank and there are still collections being made to pay off the debts incurred for the legal and political battles.

Please see attached documents for greater detail on the judge’s decision. What this means specifically, the issue legally is dead. At this juncture, the only avenue available to the charter industry would be to get the council to change their minds and adopt a new plan. Which at this time is unlikely to happen. Hopefully, those folks in the charter industry will come to terms with the decision and work on rationalizing the charter fishery so like other fisheries finds its own sustainability without encroaching into the commercial side of things.

Attached Documents:

• Memorandum Opinion
• Judicial Order

Dear Halibut Fishermen,

We expect Judge Collyer to rule in the next month on the halibut charter lawsuit.  If she rules in favor of effective management of the charter fleet, this case will establish an important precedent.  We are optimistic, but have been thorough in defending your investments.  As a result, the legal bills are substantial and the Halibut Coalition has run out of resources.  And yet we must see this case through and start preparing for publication and possible litigation of the catch share plan regulations, which will establish a more long-term frame-work for halibut charter management.

In short, there is much work to be done, all of your hard earned investments in quota share at stake, and no resources left to pay the bills.  Please take a minute today to send a contribution to the Halibut Coalition. And when you write the check or donate on line, think about the value of the halibut resource to you — and give as much as you can afford.  Then talk to other halibut fishermen and encourage them to contribute.  EVERYONE should do their part — vessel owners, deckhands and quota holders and processors — or we will all loose.

You can send a check to:

Halibut Coalition
PO Box 22073
Juneau, AK  99802-2073

or use a credit card by filling out the form at this link and mailing it in.

http://halibutcoalition.org/docs/Donation%20Form%20HC%2012Jul08.pdf

Thank you.  Your contribution is essential and greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,

Linda Behnken
(Chair, Halibut Coalition)

The Rainforest Wild vote failed to garner certification. The vote failed by comfortable margin with about 60% of all votes cast in opposition. Including all permits, about 50% voted in the certification process, which is a very high voting percentage for any election. Most folks in opposition cited not wanting to pay the 1% tax.