By Margaret Bauman
Alaska Journal of Commerce

Federal fisheries managers are moving slowly forward with a halibut allocation battle, with plans to decide in October on the charter fishing industry's request for more fish to appease a growing number of customers.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council, while meeting April 1-7 in Anchorage, heard testimony on a plan to put in place a catch-sharing plan for the charter and longline fleets. The federal panel then approved a list of options and sent them out for public review.

“We asked the council to give us more fish, but they won't make that decision until October,” said Bob Ward, a Homer charter operator who helped shepherd a previous plan to share the halibut through the council.

Ward was part of the committee that worked with the council for years, up until 2000, when the federal panel approved charter operators joining the individual quota share program for halibut. The council sent the action to National Marine Fisheries Service in Juneau for approval, but the matter languished there for several years before Bill Hogarth, assistant director of NMFS sent it back to the council for reconsideration.

“They turned down the only plan we all supported, because the council has to decide what's best for all of us,” he said. “Now the charters can't come up with a plan that doesn't hurt the commercial fleet, so we won't have the unity we had in front of the council in 2000.”

Linda Behnken, executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen's Association in Sitka, expressed concern about options for reallocating quota share from the longline to the charter sector.

“The focus of this (analysis) package was to provide a mechanism for a market-based transfer between sectors of quota share, allowing charter operators to lease quota from the longline industry, so they can invest in their growth the same way as new entrants in the longline industry invest in their growth now,” she said.

Behnken said there was little rationale for reallocation that would have a dramatic effect on longline and subsistence fisheries when there is opportunity for controlled growth for the charter operators through leasing quota share from longliners.

Deckhands in the longliner fleet are currently allowed to purchase halibut quota share for use in the charter sector. Some charter operators have become qualified dockhands in the commercial fishery. They fish longline in the spring and fall and operator charter boats in summer months, Behnken said.

Those among the some 750 Southeast Alaska halibut charter operators without the option to lease quota share are limited to one fish per client in the coming season, while the Southcentral charter operators on the Kenai Peninsula get to keep their two-fish limit.

“There is a serious problem brewing here,” said Henry Mitchell, executive director of the Southeast Alaska Guides Organization. “A lot of council members think that charter operators in Southeast can actually attract clients with only one halibut for their bag limit,” but some charters are already experiencing cancellations based on the one-fish limit, he said.

“This is not a conservation problem; there are plenty of halibut out there,” Mitchell said. He added that Southeast charters and lodge owners are concerned about losing business and not being be able to pay their bills.

If the package before the council does pass, qualified charter operators under the limited entry program adopted by the council would be able to lease quota share from the longline fleet to use in the charter fisheries. Then lodge owners who would like to provide their clients with more fish would be able to lease quota shares to provide that opportunity, Behnken said.

“The analysis done for the council estimated that cost at $1.43 a pound. The average-sized fish in the charter harvest is about 20 pounds, so you are talking about $30 per client to provide that second fish,” she said.

The Southeast customers, most of whom books their charters, lodges and transportation in advance, will come this year, but they will come with greater expectations of fishing than will be allowed, Ward said.

“The apprehension is will people come back next year if they are only getting a one-fish limit this year. This is the charter industry's big unknown,” he said. “Will it drive more people to Southcentral? If so, will they catch more fish and be over the limit? And if they come to Southcentral and don't come to Southeast, what will the Southeast charter operators do next year?”

Some 750 charter boats operate in Southeast Alaska. In 2006, their customers, 95 percent of them nonresidents aboard cruise ships or lodge guests, hauled in 1.9 million pounds of halibut, Ward said.

Southcentral's 650 boats, with 65 percent of the clientele from Alaska, harvested 3.5 million pounds of halibut in the same year.

“We have more fish here, fewer boats carrying more people each trip, and people with a higher expectation of taking home more fish to eat,” Ward said.

Margaret Bauman can be reached at margie.bauman@alaskajournal.com.