(IntraFish) Halibut catch limits for 2012 will be substantially lower than last year, the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) officially decided on Monday. The catch limit is set at 33,540,000 pounds, 18.3 percent lower than the 2011 catch limit of 41,070,000 pounds.
The amount is slightly lower than the preliminary recommendation due to concerns about area 3b, which stretches from the west end of Kodiak Island to the end of the Alaska Peninsula. The area has seen stock levels decline more than other areas.
The commission expressed concern the halibut stock assessment showed that coast-wide, the biomass has declined, and it is lower each year than what was predicted.
“The catch limits have come down substantially over the past decade or so,” IPHC Executive Director Bruce Leaman told IntraFish.
It should be considered that the stock levels are coming down from historically high rates seen in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Leaman said.
“In 2011, the total removals were twice what they were at the low point and about 40 percent below the high point,” Leaman said.
With the coast-wide halibut catch reduced more than 18 percent this year to 33.5 million pounds, following a 19 percent cut to the catch last year, there is likely to be an upward push on price this year. The fishery opened on Saturday.
Naturally, the question on fishermen’s minds is whether the market will start to push back against the increasingly high prices, reports the Dutch Harbor Fisherman.
The newspaper reports the average price for halibut during the eight month fishery in 2011 was at the high level of $6.61 (€4.95) per pound, an increase of $1.75 (€1.31) per pound from the previous year. In all, the value of Alaska's halibut catch last year was $194 million (€145 million) at the docks.
Last year, 4.3 million pounds, on average, moved to market each month, down almost 21 percent from 2010.