Dr. Phil Loring of the University of Alaska Fairbanks is seeking out halibut charter operators who have left the business, or have thought about leaving the business, as a part of an ongoing research project that seeks to understand how fishers are impacted by, and respond to, regulatory changes. Dr. Loring is hoping to do short interviews either in person or by phone. They will take roughly 30 minutes or more. If interested please contact Phil at  ploring@alaska.edu. Phil will be in Sitka on May 18,19, and 20, and in Homer on May 22, 23, and 24. If these dates are not good for you, Phil will be happy to speak with you by phone. 

As the charter fleet gears up for the 2016 season, we'd like to remind ACA members that Ulmer's Drug and Hardware in Homer has a deal for charters looking to stock up on fishing gear. According to Manager Mike Quinn, charters qualify for a discount on any item in their fishing department, just 25% above wholesale cost. Ulmer's has been a long-time supporter of the ACA and if you have any questions you can contact Mike at mquinn@ulmersalaska.com

"Work with the Council and constituents to develop a market-based mechanism to allow the charter sector to purchase commercial halibut quota share to supplement the Pacific Halibut Catch Sharing Plan allocations and reduce harvest restrictions."

Read more: 

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/management/recreational/documents/ak-imp-plan.pdf

(Note that ACA President Richard Yamada provided some very nice photography to this year's report!)

Options include: another daily closure, losing the second fish, decreasing the annual limit... no easy options remain as we are "scraping the bottom of the barrel," says Donich.  The ACA takes no position at this time, and it is important that stakeholders start thinking about what to do and which options should be considered in case abundance of halibut continues to decline. Daniel Donich serves on the Advisory Panel to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, and is happy to hear from captains about their ideas. You can drop him an email at homerfishing@gmail.com. With any luck we will remain at or above current allocations in 2017, but we must be prepared for any outcome next year. 

One concern is that a number of latent permits are being activated by new entrants in the charter halibut fishery - in some cases non-transferable permits are being fished in contradiction with the rules. NOAA will be issuing a "white paper" on this problem and will be auditing the permit system to monitor these problems. Obviously, in times of low abundance, a bunch of people jumping into the fishery can make it very difficult to stay within our limited allocations.