08-11-2011, 02:36 PM
I'd like to bring up an alternative solution:
Stop sending home boxes of halibut!
consider:
Alaska has a daily and a possession limit. Yet, when people go to places like Doc Warner's, they somehow are able to send home boxes of halibut that far exceed the possession limit. How is this possible? Once the fish have been "processed", they are removed from your possession limit. Fish camps (again, Doc Warner's is a good example) understand this, so what do they do as soon as a fishing party returns to camp? They process the catch -- vacuum sealed and professionally packaged for the client. No more possession limit to deal with. Cheating the system, if you ask me. Clients are able to stockpile boxes of frozen, professionally package halibut they caught to ship home -- going around the possession limits.
What has this done to the halibut population? Arguments can be made that populations of Pacific halibut are going down, as are average sizes. Certainly, commercial fisheries have had a large affect on halibut. But sportfishermen need to be aware of their own practices as well.
I'd like to suggest that if you value the Pacific halibut as a sportfish -- remember that thee are daily and possession limits, and by going around those limits by having your catch processed -- and sending home hundreds of pounds of halibut -- you are not helping preserve this sportfishery.
(I'll get off my soapbox now)
[signature]
Stop sending home boxes of halibut!
consider:
Alaska has a daily and a possession limit. Yet, when people go to places like Doc Warner's, they somehow are able to send home boxes of halibut that far exceed the possession limit. How is this possible? Once the fish have been "processed", they are removed from your possession limit. Fish camps (again, Doc Warner's is a good example) understand this, so what do they do as soon as a fishing party returns to camp? They process the catch -- vacuum sealed and professionally packaged for the client. No more possession limit to deal with. Cheating the system, if you ask me. Clients are able to stockpile boxes of frozen, professionally package halibut they caught to ship home -- going around the possession limits.
What has this done to the halibut population? Arguments can be made that populations of Pacific halibut are going down, as are average sizes. Certainly, commercial fisheries have had a large affect on halibut. But sportfishermen need to be aware of their own practices as well.
I'd like to suggest that if you value the Pacific halibut as a sportfish -- remember that thee are daily and possession limits, and by going around those limits by having your catch processed -- and sending home hundreds of pounds of halibut -- you are not helping preserve this sportfishery.
(I'll get off my soapbox now)
[signature]