Daily halibut catch limits for unguided recreational fishermen in Alaska will remain the same this year as last year. That’s after the International Pacific Halibut Commission took no action on a proposal that would have reduced daily catch limits for those fishermen.
The commission received a record number of public comments, 935, ahead of its four-day meeting from Jan. 19- 22 and most were opposed to the proposal. But the commission decided not to take action on the proposal and instead send a letter to a different regulatory agency asking them to take a deeper look.
The proposal, which was submitted by Per Odegaard of the Fishing Vessel Owner’s Association in Seattle, sought to reduce “unguided recreational” anglers’ daily catch limits in Alaska from two halibut to one across all IPHC regulatory areas.
The international commission said at its meeting last month that the unguided sport harvest of halibut in regulatory area 2C, which includes parts of Southeast, increased from 900,000 pounds in 2024 to 1.4 million pounds by the end of last year.
In its letter to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, the commission attributed the increase to the unguided bareboat fishing sector.
Since the council deals with more management and allocation concerns, the International Pacific Halibut Commission suggested that the council consider measures to, “improve management and catch data collection for the unguided recreational sector.”
The council is not required to take any action on this issue, and it’s not on the agenda for the council’s meeting later this week, starting Feb. 5.
So while the NPFMC potentially considers the international commission’s request, daily catch limits for unguided recreational fishermen in Alaska remain at two halibut per day in Southcentral, Area 3A, and one per day in Southeast, Area 2C.
