ADF&G Releases Annual Estimates of Sport Halibut Harvest
- ADF&G Press Release
Denby S. Lloyd, Commissioner
Nancy Long, Public Communications Section
P.O. Box 115526
Juneau, Alaska 99811
Phone: (907) 465-6166 - Fax: (907) 465-2332
Press Release: No. 10-31, November 15, 2010
Contact: Scott Meyer, Sport Fish, Statewide Bottomfish Coordinator, 907-235-1742
ADF&G Releases Annual Estimates of Sport Halibut Harvest
(Juneau) – The Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Sport Fish recently released its final estimates of Pacific halibut harvest by sport anglers in 2009 and a projection of harvest in 2010 to the International Pacific Halibut Commission and the public.
These harvest numbers and weights are used to assess and manage the Pacific halibut fishery along the coasts of Alaska, Canada, and the Lower 48. Sport harvest in Alaska occurs primarily in two of eight large regulatory areas along the coast. Sport harvest of Pacific halibut during 2009 in Area 2C, an area that encompasses all of southeast Alaska south of Cape Spencer, was 119,151 fish or 2.368 million pounds. In Area 3A, from Cape Spencer westward to just off the southern tip of Kodiak Island, harvest of Pacific halibut was 317,804 fish or 4.758 million pounds. Sport harvest in areas west of Area 3A were fairly small, totaling 3,300 fish.
Our projections of sport harvest during 2010 are 120,448 fish or 2.548 million pounds in 2C, 354,098 fish or 5.068 million pounds in 3A, and 4,679 fish in areas west of 3A.
These estimates are compiled by using the division’s annual statewide harvest survey to assess numbers of halibut kept in combination with average weight information taken from halibut landed by anglers in ports ranging from Kodiak in the west to Ketchikan in the southeast. Information from the division’s guide/business logbook program is used to help project the current year harvest.
For more information on the programs used to compile these estimates and how these data are used to assess and manage the Pacific halibut fishery, check out these web pages:
http://adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&articles_id=482 – Management of the Pacific halibut sport fishery in Alaska
http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/statewide/FishingSurvey/ - Alaska Statewide Harvest Survey
http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/region2/groundfish/gfhome.cfm - Halibut and Groundfish Program in Southcentral Alaska
http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/region1/marine_creel/creel.cfm - Marine Creel Program in Southeast Alaska
http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/Guides/ - Alaska Guide/Business Logbook Program
http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/Guides/ - Alaska Guide/Business Logbook Program
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