Biology

The Pacific halibut Hippoglossus stenolepis is a large flatfish found in the Pacific Ocean from the Sea of Japan north to the Bering Sea and as far south as California. They can be found in 20-700 feet of water in the summer and much deeper (over 3,000 feet) in the winter. They can reach lengths of 8 feet and weights of over 500 pounds. The average size of halibut harvested by sport fishers in Southcentral Alaska has ranged from 18 to 20 pounds over the last 5 years. Fish over 100 pounds are not unusual and several fish over 250 pounds are caught every summer. The state record halibut taken on sport gear is 459 pounds, caught in Unalaska Bay in 1996. Halibut are moderately long-lived animals, occasionally reaching 40 or more years of age. Most halibut taken in the sport fishery are 5-15 years old.

Recreational Use

Halibut harvest in the region has grown dramatically, increasing from 40,000 fish in 1980 to a peak of 286,000 fish in 2000. The Southcentral Region accounts for about 70% (in number of fish) of the statewide sport halibut harvest. Cook Inlet halibut fisheries based primarily in Homer, Ninilchik, Seldovia, and Anchor Point have accounted for 67-82% of the harvest in Southcentral Alaska since 1990 (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Recreational harvest of Pacific halibut in Southcentral Alaska, 1977-2003. Estimates are from the ADF&G Statewide Harvest Survey.

Management and Stock Status

The International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) is responsible for management of halibut fisheries for optimum yield. Each year the IPHC estimates the exploitable biomass (the total poundage of halibut available to the fishery), recruitment, and other statistics for the entire North Pacific halibut stock. Harvest quotas are based on a harvest strategy that removes a constant percentage of the exploitable stock, except at low stock sizes. Halibut in the northern Gulf of Alaska have undergone about a 50% reduction in weight-at-age compared with the 1980s. This reduction caused a systematic underestimation of recruitment and abundance through the 1990s. The IPHC upgraded their stock assessment procedure to incorporate the variation in growth rate and a lower assumed natural mortality rate.

The halibut stock in IPHC Area 3A is believed by the IPHC to be healthy and at about the average levels. Detailed information on status of stocks is available from IPHC. Catch-at-age information has generally not been available from recreational fisheries, but sport harvest has been included as part of total removals back to 1977. Because of the lack of comprehensive age data from the sport fishery, sport harvest has been assumed by the IPHC to have the same age composition and size at age as the commercial harvest.

Over the years, the sport harvest has grown unconstrained by catch quotas such as those placed on the commercial longline fishery. Individual fishing quotas (IFQs) were implemented for the commercial longline fishery in 1995, providing fishermen a percentage share of the longline quota. Sport harvest is currently taken off the top of the total allowable harvest before the commercial quota is set. As a result, long-term increases in the sport harvest have caused allocation conflicts between commercial and sport user groups.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) is responsible for allocation of the halibut resource among user groups in Alaska waters. The Council approved a motion in April 2001 to incorporate the Southcentral and Southeast Alaska sport charter fleet into the existing IFQ program. This action was taken to address overcapitalization of the charter fleet and reduce future allocation conflicts between charter and commercial users. Many aspects of the program still need to be worked out before the program can be approved by the Secretary of Commerce. Questions regarding the status of the IFQ program should be directed to the NPFMC.

The NPFMC and the Alaska Board of Fish have also created a joint protocol for development of "local area management plans," or LAMPs, for halibut fisheries at ports where allocation or gear conflicts are present. The Board of Fisheries solicits LAMP proposals and evaluates them for adherence to the protocol before forwarding them to the Council for action. A variety of measures, including moratoriums, harvest caps, and/or exclusion zones for all fisheries, can possibly be implemented as part of a LAMP to address nearshore depletion or resolve other user conflicts. (Links to LAMP Overview and LAMP Guidelines).

The State of Alaska lacks management authority for the recreational halibut fishery. The Board of Fisheries, however, has adopted daily bag limits, allowable gear, and other regulations that are not in conflict with the IPHC regulations. The IPHC does not collect any harvest data from the recreational fishery in Alaska. The Department of Fish and Game collects and analyzes data from the recreational fishery in Southcentral and Southeast Alaska to ensure that the IPHC and NPFMC have the best available information upon which to make management or allocation decisions. These data have been systematically collected from the major ports in Area 3A since 1991.

More Halibut Information

Southcentral Region Groundfish Staff