From the August 26 SFI News letter........
[FONT=&]"Tough Measures Pay Off[/FONT]
[FONT=&]As we head towards the Labour Day long weekend, we're pleased to report a rare bit of good news with respect to the halibut fishery in BC. Readers will recall that over the past several years, we've found ourselves in the unfortunate position where DFO closed the recreational halibut fishery over allocation (not conservation) concerns immediately following Labour Day. This approach to fisheries management had a significant impact coast wide and particularly on Southern Vancouver Island with lost fishing opportunities and business.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Happily, DFO has just reported that as of July 31[SUP]st[/SUP], recreational anglers had only harvested half of our 1 million-pound allocation for this season. Based on past catch data and estimates of angler efforts expected through August, it seems very likely that we will have near a quarter million pounds of halibut left in our allocation following Labour Day, which should carry us through the fall. In fact, the recreational sector has never caught more than 100,000 pounds of halibut between September 1[SUP]st[/SUP] and December 31[SUP]st[/SUP], even when operating at more generous catch and possession limits.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]While we will need to review the catch data in detail over the fall and winter to get a better understanding of the impacts of new catch and possession limits, it seems clear that the measures have moderated the size and quantity of catch and should allow the public to keep fishing through the fall. To that end, we'd like to voice our thanks to the members of the SFAB halibut working group who devised and recommended this year's retention plan. [/FONT]
[FONT=&]DFO will review the catch data and provide a further update on September 18[SUP]th[/SUP].[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Until then, tight lines![/FONT]"