USA: NOAA finalizes NPFMC decision to implement flexible catch limits for Alaska’s halibut fishery

Published 2023년 12월 6일

Tridge summary

NOAA Fisheries implemented Amendment 123 to the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands groundfish fishery management plan, with a final rule effective from 1 January, 2024, amending regulations on Pacific halibut limits. This change aims to reduce halibut mortality and potentially provide more harvest opportunities in commercial, subsistence, and recreational fisheries. The amendment replaces the static catch limit with an annual process based on the most recent halibut abundance indices, reflecting a decline in catch limits for commercial halibut fisheries due to changing stock conditions.

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Original content

NOAA Fisheries issued a final rule effective 1 January, 2024, to implement Amendment 123 to the fishery management plan for groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) management area. The final rule amends regulations governing limits on Pacific halibut, linking the halibut prohibited species catch limit for Amendment 80 commercial groundfish trawl fleet in the BSAI groundfish fisheries to halibut abundance. The Amendment 80 sector is a fleet of nearly 20 catcher-processor vessels in the Bering Sea that target Pacific cod, Pacific Ocean perch, Atka mackerel, rock, yellowfin, and flathead sole. The BSAI fishery management plan has previously set the annual halibut mortality prohibited species catch limit for Amendment 80 sector at 1,745 metric tons (metric tons), as halibut is incidentally taken as a bycatch in groundfish fisheries.NOAA said the rule is expected to reduce halibut mortality and may result in additional harvest opportunities in the commercial halibut ...

Source: Seafoodsource