The Secretary of Commerce adopted Amendment 111 to the Magnuson-Stevens Act on Wednesday, which cuts halibut bycatch limits for groundfish trawlers.
The amendment aims to reduce the bycatch in Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands groundfish fisheries. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration believes the measure will reduce the overall amount of halibut bycatch in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands by 361 metric tons compared to 2014, or nearly 800,000 pounds, freeing up more of the lucrative fish for the directed halibut fishermen in the central Bering Sea.
Halibut stocks have been on the downswing, and more of the catch now goes to groundfish trawler bycatch usage than to the actual halibut fishermen.
In June 2015, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council made a clutch of reductions to the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands groundfish fisheries.
Overall, the groundfish fleet has a 21 percent reduction in bycatch limits to 3,515 metric tons, or about 7.75 million pounds. Each sector has different levels of cuts. The Amendment 80 sector, which is composed of a dozen catcher-processor vessels based in Seattle, has a 25 percent reduction. The trawl limited access sector has a 15 percent reduction along with the non-trawl sector. Community Development Quota programs, which give 10 percent of overall harvest to 65 Alaska villages within 50 miles of the coast, have a 20 percent reduction in halibut bycatch.
The final rule will be in effect 30 days after appearing in the Federal Register, expected spring 2016.
