AK Board of Fish Doubles Pot Cod Quota to 16,000 tons for Small Boats Around Dutch Harbor
SEAFOODNEWS.COM By Peggy Parker - December 10, 2015
In a 7-0 decision last week, the Alaska Board of Fish increased the Guideline Harvest Limit (GHL) and expanded the boundaries for the state water Pacific cod pot fishery in Area O, near Dutch Harbor.
The GHL for the two year old P-cod fishery in state waters was 18 million pounds in 2015. The fleet of 14 vessels, none of which are larger than 58-feet, took the harvest in five weeks using pot gear only.
Next year, the GHL will be 36 million pounds, or about 16,000 mt. That increase comes out of the Bering Sea total allowable catch, which last year was 240,000 mt. This year, with identical Allowable Biological Catch levels, the TAC is likely to be the same.
The area in which the pot vessels can fish was expanded from the present line at 164 degrees west, about halfway down Unimak Island, to the state-waters of the Aleutian Islands at the 170 degrees west line, near Cape Cheerful. The new area would prohibit fishing in the state-waters around Bogoslof Island and two other three-mile Steller sea lion no-transit zones in the new portion of the area.
These restrictions are similar to other state water fisheries where the protected Steller sea lions...
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