Management Alternatives for the Guided Sport Fishery for Halibut off Alaska

Abstract

The domestic fishery for halibut in and off Alaska is managed by the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) as provided by the ""Convention Between the United States and Canada for the Preservation of the Halibut Fishery of the Northern Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea" (Convention) signed at Washington March 29, 1979, and the Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 1982 (Halibut Act). The Convention and the Halibut Act authorize the respective North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) established by the Magnuson-Stevens Act to: "develop regulations governing the United States portion of Convention waters, including limited access regulations, applicable to nationals or vessels of the United States, or both which are in addition to and not in conflict with regulation adopted by the Commission. Such regulation shall only be implemented with the approval of the Secretary, shall not discriminate between residents of different States, and shall be consistent with the limited entry criteria set forth in Section 303(b)(6) of the Magnuson Stevens Act. If it becomes necessary to allocate or assign halibut fishing privileges among various United States fishermen, such allocation shall be fair and equitable to all such fishermen, based upon the rights and obligation in existing Federal law, reasonable calculated to promote conservation, and carried in such manner that no particular individual, corporation, or other entity acquires an excessive share o f the halibut fishing privileges ... [Halibut Act]." This document assesses the potential economic and social impacts of a proposed catch reporting system and/or some form of limitation on the growth of the halibut charter boat industry (lodges, outfitters, guides, and charter vessels) operating in waters off Alaska's coast.