
In a somber and tense meeting of the International Pacific Halibut Commission in Vancouver, British Columbia, stakeholders faced with the lowest spawning biomass in 40 years opted to cut the commercial catch limits for the 2025 season by just over 18%.
The 2025 quotas were announced Jan. 31.
The fishery has been scheduled to open at 6 a.m. on March 20 and run through 11:50 p.m. on Dec. 7.
“The halibut spawning biomass is at historic low levels,” Linda Behnken, a veteran commercial harvester and executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, said.
“Stock productivity is low with no obvious strong year classes on the horizon,” she continued. “Reductions in catch limits are necessary, but would be less painful if Canada’s harvest was proportional to the abundance in their area.”
“Canada claims 18% of the coastwide harvest despite the stock assessment finding only 13 % of the biomass in Canadian waters,” she added. “That reduces opportunity for Alaska fishermen beyond the reductions indicated to conserve the halibut resource.”
Malcom Milne, president of the North Pacific Fisheries Association in Homer, Alaska, said he thinks the harvest should have been cut further.
“I just hope we are not too late,” he said. “I feel like we are catching up over some lack of meaningful cuts over the last 10 years. I have always been way more on the conservative side. I’ve seen this coming or a long time, so I’m not shocked, (but) it will be tough for people who recently bought (halibut) quota.”
“I won’t say people are happy, but a lot of people see the need for the cut,” said Tom Gemmell, executive director of the Halibut Coalition. He also commented that young fishermen who bought into the halibut quota over the last four to five years will be hurt economically.
“Harvesters will need a good price for their harvest this year,” he said.
Area 2A, covering coastal areas from California north to Washington state, saw a 7.23% boost in its quota, from 83,000 pounds in 2024 to 89,000 pounds in 2025, but all other sectors of the halibut fishery managed by the IPHC saw cuts.
The IPHC board voted to cut the quota in Area 3A, in the central Gulf of Alaska, by 22.09% from 7.56 million pounds to 5.89 million pounds; the quota for Area 4A, in the Eastern Aleutians 21.88%, from 1.28 million pounds to 90,000 pounds; and the quota for Area 4CDE, in the Bering Sea, by 21.84%, from 2.06 million pounds to 1.61 million pounds.
For Area 2B, British Columbia, the quota was cut 18.18%, from 4.73 million pounds to 3.87 million pounds. Area 4, the central and western Aleutians, the quota dropped 17.43%, from 1.09 million pounds to 90,000 pounds.
Area 3B, the western Gulf of Alaska, was cut 17.11%, from 2.98 million pounds to 2.47 million pounds. Area 2C, Southeast Alaska, was cut 12.29%, from 3.50 million pounds to 2.07 million pounds.
That added up to an overall commercial harvest decline from 24.03 million pounds in 2024 to 19.7 million pounds, or 18.02 % overall.