Halibut, Sablefish, and King Bycatch

[Rob B]

Here is the latest in Bycatch numbers.

https://www.kbbi.org/post/week-bycatch-november-6

[Patsfan54]

We might not have to worry long about halibut bycatch, if all the females keep getting caught at the rate they are being caught...

"Coastwide, catches are coming in at 82 percent female on average by total number of fish."

"In some areas, it’s higher. Area 4, which covers the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, the catch was 92 percent female. Areas C, D and E, the Central Bering Sea, were 97 percent female."

https://www.alaskajournal.com/2019-1...ed-annual-data

[fishNphysician]

we might not have to worry long about halibut bycatch, if all the females keep getting caught at the rate they are being caught...

"coastwide, catches are coming in at 82 percent female on average by total number of fish."

"in some areas, it’s higher. Area 4, which covers the bering sea and aleutian islands, the catch was 92 percent female. Areas c, d and e, the central bering sea, were 97 percent female."

https://www.alaskajournal.com/2019-1...ed-annual-data

holy moses!

[fishNphysician]

I'm no commercial halibut fisherman, but can anyone here explain the mechanism for such wildly disproprtionate exploitation based on sex? How is that even possible? Is it just a size-selective phenomenon where the biggest halibut are statistically female?

Anyone?

[extrema]

Wow! I seem to recall reading at some point that bigger halibut bring a higher price per pound. Is the catch being high-graded at sea by releasing the smaller fish (males) in favour of the larger and higher priced females?

[gbflyer]

Wow! I seem to recall reading at some point that bigger halibut bring a higher price per pound. Is the catch being high-graded at sea by releasing the smaller fish (males) in favour of the larger and higher priced females?

Where I live and fish in 2c, there is a lot of pressure put on the 38” and under fish due to charter fishing regulations. Those are males for the most part. Its well documented as we have a creel survey guy from ADFG at the dock every day. It’s good business for the long liners, fewer dinks to shake. But when looking at the overall picture, what happens here is a drop in the bucket.

Yes, comm fishermen get more money for over 60’s. The yield is higher. I suppose high grading varies from boat to boat.

All of that pales in comparison to the trawl by - catch though. That’s where the real consumption occurs.

[twodux]

For the difference in price, it's not worth the extra bait and fuel and time to hi=grade, even if it was legal which it is not. I had a friend who made a 33 inch mark on his boat to make sure his crew didn't accidentally keep undersized fish. He got a ticket for high grading. As for the percentages, there has always been a much higher % of females than males in the longline catch. Don't know about other fisheries. Maybe it has something to do with the 32 inch rule. Maybe a lot of the smaller fish are males. But I'd say over the years I longlined, 75% or more of the fish I cleaned were females. Personally, I'd like to see an upper limit on the size of halibut that are retained. sport and commercial. Say 100 lbs. The same thing they do with Sturgeon now.

[twodux]

As for salmon, most of them are taken with mid-water gear during the pollock season. The hard on the bottom cod and sole and rockfish seasons are the ones responsible for the halibut and crab by-catch.

The good news is, the gulf cod season is shut down this year because of low cod numbers. Hopefully that will help the halibut and crab out.