Halibut Limits
- Thread starter Murry
- Start date
ryanonthevedder
Active Member
If I remember correctly there was a Rec TAC overage last year to be accounted for and and increase this year was unlikely.
DieselBeast
Member
Last year the change to 2per day possession for under was announced on July 5th and came into place for July 8th.
Fingers crossed for the same change this year I guess.
Fingers crossed for the same change this year I guess.
Whole in the Water
Well-Known Member
Doubt it will happen as Canda’s TAC went down again this year.
searun
Well-Known Member
During the post season analysis of how the 2023 regulations performed in achieving the goal of optimizing our utilization of the available TAC, we had available to us new data from the iREC survey that attributed the number of fish retained broken down by the actual size (lengths recorded by people responding to the survey using their paper license). This data was extremely helpful in that it provided the ability to undertake detailed calculations to provide insight into which size lengths contributed to the most use of the available TAC. That analysis demonstrated that small sized fish played a very significant use of TAC - more than prior years. This is because the biomass is shifting to be dominated by the smaller 2012 age class spawning recruits, while the larger older fish are now aging out of the population and less available to catch.
The decision made last year to start the season with 2 per day under 90cm unfortunately (and in absence of being able to see this new analysis) resulted in considerably larger use of TAC - function of the smaller 2012 recruits playing a more dominant role in the fish actually available to catch.
As a result, the approach this season was to start the season with 2 major adjustments - 1) reduce the smaller size fro 90 cm to 85 cm, and; 2) shift to allowing only 1 fish per day to be retained - but for the smaller fish still allowing a total of 2 in possession so long as they are caught over multiple days and not in a single day. This will have the effect of dramatically slowing down the catch and use of TAC, hopefully avoiding an early season closure like we encountered last year.
No decision to increase the daily possession of 1 per day to 2 per day of the under 85cm fish will take place until we have sufficient catch data to assess the actual trend in overall catch. Because most of the halibut catch takes place in June through September with July/August being the largest catch months, it will be very difficult to have the catch data available to determine if there is sufficient remaining TAC to increase the daily possession limits until mid-August when we will have the March to July data available.
Long detailed story - but bottom line is there will be an assessment made in August to determine if we have sufficient TAC remaining to use 2 tools we have - One, increase the smaller 85cm fish from 1 to 2 per day; or Two, increase the smaller 85cm fish from 1 to 3 fish per day.
We do not have the ability to amend size limits because each license has the slot limit sizes printed on them which locks us into only having the ability to in-season vary possession limits and not slot size limits.
The decision made last year to start the season with 2 per day under 90cm unfortunately (and in absence of being able to see this new analysis) resulted in considerably larger use of TAC - function of the smaller 2012 recruits playing a more dominant role in the fish actually available to catch.
As a result, the approach this season was to start the season with 2 major adjustments - 1) reduce the smaller size fro 90 cm to 85 cm, and; 2) shift to allowing only 1 fish per day to be retained - but for the smaller fish still allowing a total of 2 in possession so long as they are caught over multiple days and not in a single day. This will have the effect of dramatically slowing down the catch and use of TAC, hopefully avoiding an early season closure like we encountered last year.
No decision to increase the daily possession of 1 per day to 2 per day of the under 85cm fish will take place until we have sufficient catch data to assess the actual trend in overall catch. Because most of the halibut catch takes place in June through September with July/August being the largest catch months, it will be very difficult to have the catch data available to determine if there is sufficient remaining TAC to increase the daily possession limits until mid-August when we will have the March to July data available.
Long detailed story - but bottom line is there will be an assessment made in August to determine if we have sufficient TAC remaining to use 2 tools we have - One, increase the smaller 85cm fish from 1 to 2 per day; or Two, increase the smaller 85cm fish from 1 to 3 fish per day.
We do not have the ability to amend size limits because each license has the slot limit sizes printed on them which locks us into only having the ability to in-season vary possession limits and not slot size limits.
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