LUTHERAN QUILTERS – Members of the Quilts for Comfort Group stand between pews draped with some of the 205 quilts they made, in the Sitka Lutheran Church Tuesday. The group made the quilts for five local non-profits and one in Anchorage. The remaining quilts are sent to Lutheran World Relief which  distributes them to places around the world in need, such as Ukraine, as part of Personal Care Kits. Pictured are, from left, Helen Cunningham, Kathleen Brandt,Vicki Swanson, Paulla Hardy, Kim Hunter, Linda Swanson and Sue Fleming.  (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

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Daily Sitka Sentinel

Groups Map Strategy On Halibut Bycatch

By TOM HESSE

Sentinel Staff Writer

The problem of halibut bycatch in the offshore trawl fisheries is of such over-riding concern in Alaska that commercial longliners, the sport charter fleet and the Alaska Legislature are all in agreement: something has to be done.

When the North Pacific Fishery Management Council meets in Sitka next week the halibut bycatch in the Bering Sea will be a key issue.

The NPFMC manages the 200-mile exclusive economic zone off the coast of Alaska. On Tuesday, a group of Sitka fishermen gathered at a meeting organized by the Alaska Longline Fisherhies Association to go over the issues and strategy for presenting testimony at the council meeting.

The conflict for the regulators to rule on is primarily between the halibut bycatch in the Bering Sea trawl fishery and the directed halibut fishery encompassing the entire coast of Alaska. The directed fishery groups who rely on halibut are concerned about the loss of halibut to trawlers focused primarily on other species such as pollock.  

ALFA Executive Director Linda Behnken said the Bering Sea fishing grounds are important to the entire halibut population because bycatch from the trawl fleet is reducing the stock of young halibut that would normally move toward Sitka. 

“As they get to be 3 or 4 they start swimming back this way and settle all along the shelf, so what’s happening in the Bering Sea is very important,” Behnken said. 

And what’s happening is massive amounts of fish waste. In 2014 the trawl fisheries discarded 7 times as many halibut as the directed halibut fishery landed in the Bering Sea/Aleution Island area. 

And the “incidental catch” of halibut by Bering trawlers is nearly equivalent to the entire catch of the directed halibut fishery for the entire coast. 

The average weight of a fish landed by the directed fishery was around 22 pounds, according to a Halibut Commission Report from last year. By contrast, it’s estimated the average weight for one of the trawl bycatch halibut was 4.76 pounds. Behnken said that means a large portion of juvenile fish are being killed before they can even be considered a part of the biomass. 

“There’s a big loss genetically. There’s a loss in terms of distribution,” Behnken said. 

And that loss is important all the way down the Pacific because halibut tagged in the Bering Sea have been recovered as far south as California.

All of this bycatch has resulted in reductions to the overall biomass, with some numbers showing that over the last 15 years the halibut biomass has dropped from around 400 million pounds to around 200 million pounds.

The problem that many fishermen are bringing to the NPFMC is that as the biomass has dropped, the allowable limit of trawler bycatch has not. The prohibited species catch limit is 4,426 metric tons, which means about 7.32 million pounds of halibut can be caught and killed as bycatch. That number is out of date, says Paul Olson, an attorney for the eco-tourism business, the Boat Company. 

“This action is about 20 years overdue,” Olson said, referring to a lowering the cap of allowable bycatch. 

The penalty for exceeding the maximum allowable bycatch limit by the trawl fleet is the automatic shutdown of the fishery. That hasn’t happened for several years, but Behnken said that’s not a result of decreasing bycatch, but rather a result of decreasing biomass. 

“As the halibut biomass declines, they brag about how they’re not hitting their caps, but it’s just because the biomass is less,” Behnken said. 

ALFA and other concerned organizations and individuals are calling for the maximum allowable halibut bycatch to be cut by 50 percent – down to around 2,213 metric tons. Behnken said a 50 percent cut is actually more like a 25 or 30 percent cut because of how far below the cap the trawl fleet has been with the reduced biomass. 

“I would recommend that they reduce the Bering Sea/Aleutian Island bycatch limits by 50 percent, and if everyone keeps saying that it sort of sets the bar,” she said. 

Catch limits in the directed halibut fishery have decreased over the past 20 years, but the bycatch limit has not, and Behnken says this is disproportionately shifting the burden of a decreasing biomass onto halibut fishermen who are not responsible for the major cause. Jeff Farvour, a fishermen present at the meeting, said longline waste for the entire coast accounted for about 3 percent of the overall mortality, and this has been factored into harvest limits. 

“When you’re looking at wastage versus bycatch mortality at any scale it’s no comparison,” Farvour said. 

A lower bycatch limit would encourage cleaner fishing practices among the Bering Sea fleet and help protect juvenile halibut, Behnken said. 

Trawl fishermen, which include the so-called “Amendment 80 Fleet,” are concerned about reductions in allowable bycatch because of the cost it could have on that industry.

“All the council members are under a huge amount of pressure from the Amendment 80 fleet because of the economics,” Olson said.  

“The trawlers are going to argue ad nauseam that we are worth millions of dollars, this is going to cost us millions of dollars,” he said. 

But Behnken said bycatch reductions have been accomplished elsewhere along the Pacific coastline. 

“The lower 48 just accomplished a big bycatch reduction. Canada has and, of course us since we eliminated trawling, have the lowest bycatch.” 

Behnken said support for lowering the bycatch limit is broad, with 14 coastal communities, including Sitka, passing resolutions calling for such action. The state Legislature, which is still deadlocked on budget issues, has called for reduced bycatch and the charter fleet has also advocated for the change. 

“There’s quite a few great comments in for the charter fleet,” Behnken said. 

A good portion of Tuesday’s meeting here was spent on how and when to testify to the council. The NPFMC meeting begins June 1, and those wishing to testify need to sign up at the meeting in advance of their testimony. Behnken said it’s important that anyone concerned should consider testifying to the NPFMC even if it’s “they just like to eat halibut.” 

The council has 11 voting members but two Alaska members, David Long of Wasilla and Simon Kinneen of Nome, have been determined to have a conflict of interest over voting on the bycatch issue, which the state is currently appealing.

 

Anyone looking for more information on how to get involved with the NPFMC meeting can contact the longliners association at 747-3400. 

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20 YEARS AGO

March 2004

Advertisement: Tea-Licious Tea House & Bakery 315 Lincoln Street Grand Opening! Freshly Baked Scones, Cakes & Pastries Innovative Salads, Soups & Sandwiches Harney & Sons Tea. Lunch * Afternoon Tea * Supper.

50 YEARS AGO

March 1974

Photo caption: National Republican Chairman George Bush takes a drink of water offered by Jan Craddick, Sitka delegate, during the Republican convention held here. Mrs. Craddick explained to Bush that the water was from Indian River, which means, according to local legend, that he will return.

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