2012/2013 GKC Post Season Information Area wide GHL of 590,000 lbs. - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

2012/2013 GKC Post Season Information

• Area wide GHL of 590,000 lbs.
• East Central, Northern, and Mid-Chatham closed within

10% of their GHLs

– All had historically long seasons since the fishery collapse in the 1990s

• N. Stephens Passage only reached 53% of its GHL
• Icy Strait closed in-season due to management
• concerns. Previous season was the longest to date

(255 days).

• Most areas saw below average fishery performance

CPUE

• Most areas have become a post-recruit fishery

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Preliminary 2014 In-Season Info projected thru 3/14/2014

• East Central

– 16 permit holders – 27% of the 200,000lb GHL

• Northern

– 8 permit holders – 17% of the 105,000lb GHL

• Icy Strait

– 4 permit holders – 33% of the 20,000lb GHL

• N. Stephens Passage

– 5 permit holders – 12% of the 10,000lb GHL

• Mid-Chatham

– 3 permit holders – 11% of the 110,000lb GHL

• Southern

– 3 permit holders – 30% of the 22,000lb GHL

• Lower Chatham

– *confidential due to fewer than 3 permit holders fishing

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2013/14 GKC Season GHL Adjustments

• East Central

– Lowered GHL by 30% from 285,000lbs to 200,000lbs – Historically low CPUE since the 1990s fishery collapse – 2012/2013 season was the longest season to date

• Daily fishery performance CPUE decreased dramatically
• Pot lifts were the highest in the last 15 years

– 2012/2013 harvest was primarily post recruit crab – 2012/2013 historically high market prices ($10/lb.)

• Icy Strait

– Lowered GHL by 30% from 30,000lbs to 20,000lbs – Slow progress of the GHL – 2011/2012 season was the longest season to date – Continued declines in fishery performance CPUE

• 2013/2014 lowest regionwide GHL to date (495,000lbs) since the

2000/2001 season.

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2000-2014 Total pot lifts per area

Year East Central Icy Strait Lower Chatham Mid-Chatham N. Stephens Passage Northern Southern 2000 9,276 6,568 934 2,627 652 2,545 * 2001 8,976 3,150 1,481 3,585 2,610 6,190 * 2002 14,901 3,419 958 4,899 2,634 5,695 * 2003 13,057 3,392 * 4,633 2,131 6,832 280 2004 10,237 2,280 * 3,487 2,173 8,016 * 2005 11,010 2,859 * 3,090 1,499 6,276 * 2006 11,657 3,466 * 4,200 * 6,986 * 2007 9,173 3,179 379 3,326 1,037 4,406 * 2008 6,725 2,515 * 3,050 1,351 4,877 * 2009 7,241 2,595 794 3,339 1,812 5,231 * 2010 9,646 1,704 1,210 4,119 1,871 7,335 768 2011 8,906 2,778 1,093 3,745 2,071 6,473 1,110 2012 5,249 2,626 * 4,117 2,646 8,242 * 2013 18,713 740 * 4,469 665 6,163 * **2014 4,559 431 * 555 885 1,556 271

*Confidential data where less than 3 permit holders fished **2014 data up to 3/17/2014 4

Observer Program Update

• 2013-5 trips in 4 management areas.
• 2 trips in E.C. due to low fishery performance

– Trips were 1-month apart, same boat, and observed the same thing; mostly post-recruit crab (large old shell crab)

• Other trips included Northern, Southern, and Mid-Chatham.
• Southern still has the highest incidence of the parasite B. callosus

with few infections being found in other areas.

• 2014-7 trips planned with Icy Strait, Northern, and East Central

completed so far.

• Observer data has been used in Andrew Olson’s UAF Master’s

project in which he is establishing size at maturity (SAM) for GKC in

• SEAK. Preliminary results show that there is variability in SAM with

SAM increasing with changes in latitude.

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Halibut Bycatch from GKC Observer Program 1998-2013

# of Boats Pot Type # of Pots Sampled # of Halibut

6 Square 249 17 11 Cone 6,478 17

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