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Time to speak up on halibut catch share planMaybe you’ve read Craig Medred’s recent excellent reports on the feds attempt to ratchet down on halibut charter operators in Southcentral Alaska. If you haven’t, there’s still time to do so, and because of enough begging by affected businesses, you also now have a longer period of time in which to make your opinions heard to the governmental body in charge. The National Marine Fisheries Service’s proposed Halibut Catch Sharing Plan (HCS) will change the way halibut are allocated between commercial fisheries and the sport charter fleet in Southcentral Alaska. The change from the existing Guideline Harvest Level (GHL) to the proposed HCS plan will ensure a change in halibut bag limits from two to one fish per day for anglers on charter boats. The bag limit will stay at two fish a day for regular sport fishermen. It’s also possible that the one fish will be limited in size to 37 inches or less, what amounts to approximately a 22-pound fish. I have not been able to take clients out this year because of a reduction in the charter fleet that took place over the winter, as I was one of the 30 percent of charter boat operators who did not qualify for the newly required Charter Halibut Permit (CHP). I’m okay with that, but I’m terrified of the proposed HCS plan. This new attempt at reallocation of the fish is ill-conceived, unfairly favors the commercial fleet, and an effort to put the rule into place fails to comply with correct legislative procedure. Here are my thoughts, and main problems, with the plan:
My take on the effects of this new plan, and thoughts from other people in the industry who have bigger brains than I, is that this new plan will have a devastating impact on the economy of Southcentral coastal towns. It’s not just the charter operators who stand to lose; it’s every business connected to the tourism industry. The comment period to make your thoughts known has just been extended to Sept. 21. You can let NMFS, and ultimately the U.S. Secretary of Commerce (who has to sign off on the plan) know your opinions. Here’s a sample letter with contact information posted by the Alaska Charter Association. The one-fish restriction is already in place (since 2009) in Southeast Alaska waters. Ask any tourist related business down there how it’s been working out for them. Let’s not allow this so-called “sharing” plan to go into effect. The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch. Alaska Dispatch welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. Jim Lavrakas is a retired photojournalist who caught the fishing fever late in life. He lives in Homer with his wife Ruth, and owns Skookum Charters, a saltwater fishing and eco-tourism charter business. This is not a sharing plan. This is the commercial fishing industry paying lobbyists to get legislation stacked in their favor at the national and state level. We went through this in the early 90's in Prince William Sound. Compare the economic benefits to the State of Alaska when you compare a sport caught halibut, charter or private boat, to a commercial caught fish. Tourists and Alaskans both spend money on gas, hotels, resturants or groceries, camping and fishing gear, and charter services, boat rentals, etc. Don't forget to factor in fishing licenses, boat and trailer registration fees, and all the costs associated with operating a charter business. So what is one 40 lb halibut worth to the economy of the state? A 40 lb longlined halibut is worth what the going market price is. Hopefully that longliner is a resident of Alaska who at least purchases his goods and services here throughout the year. If not most of that money is headed outside with all the crab boats. That one halibut is worth more to me as a resident than the few dollars in revenue that the state receives from a commercial fisherman that might or might not live here. This whole manipulated plan goes directly against the Alaska Constitution which states that the resources of the state belong to the people. Imagine my amusement. The federal government is insatiably desperate for more money for its bankrupting Presidential Ego Gratification Wars and multi-billion dollar hand-outs to crony New York bankers. The elected officials are dependent upon giving their ultra-rich cronies more and more money. They have no choice. They MUST get more money from the common people. Giving the resources to only the big corporations creates more easily controlled, central taxation, forcing the common people to buy back their own food, and pay the many layers of "hidden" taxes. Even if they read these words offered to them before, the foolish small charter fishermen and most other common Alaskans will just keep BEGGING for an inescapably diminishing share of Alaska resources under that bureaucratic imperative. Until each Alaska organization curtails 100 percent of their futile BEGGING, and stands on the sole position of voting Alaska out of the US, to become an independent nation, the ALASKA BEGGARS will get less and less because the DemocanRepublicrat War and Police Regime has no escape in reasoning, by design of inherently INSATIABLE POWER. As an example, long before the recent National Park Service increase in the TAX on the common people's RIGHT TO WALK ON THEIR OWN PUBLIC LAND, the Alaskan Alpine Club started supporting the UNALIENABLE RIGHT of Alaskans to democratically vote themselves out of the US, to become an independent nation. That is inescapable. Now we are only talking about how much longer the yet timid Alaskans will allow themselves to robbed of even the food off their tables. Enjoy the show. Respectfully, DougBuchananCom I would like to make contact with the charter operators via email |
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