Halibut fishermen say Bering Sea bycatch levels are unacceptable, hope to rein in groundfish fleet
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Opinion] By Buck Laukitis May 22, 2014
Buck Laukitis is a halibut fisherman from Homer, and head of the North Pacific Fisheries Association. He writes to contradict the 'Alls well with Alaska' message being sent to Washington around the Magnuson Steven Reauthorization hearings. With the reduction in halibut stock, Bering Sea Bycatch is now more than twice that of the directed fishery, and there has not been any movement on constraining groundfish to share more equally the consequences of a declining stock.
This year the Magnuson Stevens Act will be reauthorized by Congress. The MSA is the law by which the National Marine Fisheries Service and the North Pacific Fisheries Council manage the federal fisheries off of Alaska. In public hearings the message that “all is well in Alaskan waters” and “no major changes to the law are needed” has been echoed by many groundfish industry lobbyists. Although no one will dispute that the Bering Sea groundfish industry is a behemoth, their financial success is coming at the expense of other users. Halibut fishermen in all areas of the Bering Sea have a catch limit of 3.2 million pounds this year. The estimated bycatch cap in the Bering Sea is almost 8 million pounds.
The North Pacific Fisheries Association in Homer represents commercial halibut fishermen who fish throughout the state. Our members who fish in the Bering Sea have seen their halibut quotas reduced to the lowest levels since the advent of the modern halibut fishery – which began to recover in the mid 80’s after years of foreign trawling...
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