Pacific halibut season opened Sunday, March 6 in Alaska, according to NOAA Fisheries.
New regulations, adopted at the annual meeting of the International Pacific Halibut Commission in January, are now in effect. Included in this season’s federal regulations are the catch limits established by the IPHC, and basic regulations for the commercial and sport halibut fisheries. Overall, the 2022 catch limits for the combined commercial and charter halibut fisheries in Alaska are higher than in 2021. There are fisheries management measures for the charter halibut fisheries in Areas 2C in Southeast Alaska and in area 3A, Southcentral Alaska. The IPHC set harvest limits to keep charter harvests to within their respective allocations under a catch sharing plan with the commercial halibut fishery.
NOAA announced on Sunday that the following regulations are in effect for the charter fishery in Area 3A, Southcentral Alaska, from Kodiak to Yakutat, including the Homer area. There is a daily bag limit of two halibut, but one fish must be no greater than 28 inches. All Wednesdays are closed to halibut retention. Two Tuesdays (July 26 and August 2) are closed to halibut retention. Charter halibut permits and charter halibut vessels are only authorized to retain halibut on one trip per day. Unguided halibut sport fishers in Alaska will continue to observe a daily bag limit of 2 fish of any size per person per day. Alaska commercial IFQ halibut season dates are March 6 through December 7, 2022 for all IPHC management areas in Alaska.
