NPFMC okays plan for charter halibut RQE

Federal fisheries managers have decided to move ahead with a plan to create a charter halibut recreational quota entity that could be up and running in as little as two years.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council took final action during its December meeting in Anchorage on the measure that would allow for a charter halibut recreational quota entity to purchase and hold commercial halibut quota shares in International Pacific Halibut Commission areas 2C and 3A on behalf of charter boat firms in these corresponding areas.

Still ahead lies the writing of regulations, and waiting for approval from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Commercial halibut harvesters are united in their opposition to the RQEs, which they contend will have only negative consequences for historic halibut sectors.

The proposed reallocation will drive localized depletion near coastal communities, reduce resident subsistence and sport harvesting opportunities, raise quota share costs in the commercial fisheries, reduce product availability to commercial processors, distributors, retailers and, ultimately, restaurants, said Tom Gemmell, executive of the Coalition.

“We believe the analysis fails to include critical information on the RQE funding mechanism and potential loss of fee and tax revenue,” Gemmell testified.  “We believe charter anglers are not adequately informed of the costs they will be expected to pay, should the RQE be established, and that any potential benefits to clients are overstated and overshadowed by costs and impacts to other sectors.”

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The Coalition represents 13 member organizations, including Cordova District Fishermen United.

Gemmell called the RQE  “still a campaign in search of a problem,” and reminded the council that the catch sharing plan, which has only been in place for three years, includes a market-based mechanism for transfer between sectors, allowing charter operators to provide increased harvesting opportunities to their clients.

And the analysis failed to identify the funding source for RQE quota share purchase, rendering it impossible for the public and the council to fully understand impacts, and the economic implications of reallocation to the state Alaska communities is not fairly addressed, he said.

David Goldstein, owner of Prince William Sound Eco-Charters in Whittier, testified that he felt the optimal solution would be to find a way to standardize the recreational halibut fishery, “regardless of whether the individual uses a guide, a Oui.ja board, a friend, flips a coin, guidance from above, or whatever.”

The RQE will provide a market-based (willing seller and willing buyer) tool through which commercial IFQ can be purchased to add to guided angler allocations, thereby decreasing the pain of strict harvest rules during times of low abundance, Goldstein said. “This has the tremendous potential to ‘close the gap’ between recreational halibut fisheries, eliminate incentives for charter halibut businesses to morph from guided to non-guided operations, and ultimately, to stabilize the charter halibut industry for the many, many who depend on it for their livelihoods, for their businesses and for their enjoyment and enrichment,” he said.

Goldstein urged the council to move the RQE forward into regulation.

Linda Behnken, executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, said the subsidized reallocation, as proposed, would destabilize and undermine subsistence, non-guided sport and commercial sectors to provide a few more inches of halibut opportunity to guided sport clients.

Behnken said that in approving the RQE plan the council was giving priority the charter operators, many of whom were rich non-Alaskans,  over subsistence, sport and commercial harvesters who represent Alaska’s small boat halibut fleet.

Close to 30 percent of halibut quota could be taken by the RQE, but they have no observer coverage and pay nothing into the observer pool, with minimal accountability, she said.

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