Final Harvest Numbers In Hand, Halibut Commission Set For Meeting

All of Alaska’s Pacific halibut fisheries stayed within their quota limits this year, but not all individual sectors within the fishery areas did.

The final regular landings update for 2018 from the International Pacific Halibut Commission, issued Nov. 15, outlines the final data available before the first interim meeting of the commission. Overall, all Pacific halibut fisheries for Canada and the U.S. harvested about 26.5 million pounds of halibut, or about 95 percent of the total limit of 27.9 million pounds.

Alaska’s regulatory areas, stretching from Southeast to the northern Bering Sea, all harvested a lower percentage of their quotas than the West Coast and British Columbia, which harvested 99 percent and 98 percent of their quotas, respectively. The two areas with the largest participation and quotas, Southeast and the central Gulf of Alaska, harvested 92 and 96 percent of their quotas, respectively.

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