Friday is here and we just found out what the IPHC Commissioners have decided regarding total halibut catch for 2024. It looks like we, Canadian sports anglers, dodged a bullet. North Pacific halibut stock is at a low and seemingly in worse shape in certain areas. The Canadian delegation’s feeling seemed somewhat glum going into this year’s IPHC 100th AGM in anticipation of seeing a sizable drop in total allowable catch for Canada, which meant the sport fishery would be looking at reduced poundage available to plan our coming season.
In 2023 the recreational allowable catch was 880,250 lbs and we overfished before closing in September to the tune of 9,631 lbs, a quantity that will be taken off our 2024 catch before we start. Canada’s portion of the total Pacific catch is 6,470,000 lbs and after calculation the recreational allowable catch will be 836,250 lbs less the 9,631 lbs of 2023 overage. It appears we have 53,631 lbs less than 2023. So it could have been much worse if the delegates lobbying for a 15% reduction had been adopted. Now you SFAB Halibut Working Group will go to work and develop a coast-wide fishing plan at the end of this month.
All-in-all yet another outstanding job done by our Canadian delegation and a big thank you to our commissioners for using their excellent negotiation skills dealing with the USA.
Now we can dream of bringing home some fresh hali for the table after a great day on the water and hopefully in a few weeks, weather permitting, that will be an option!