The International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) on Friday raised the overall catch limit in US and Canadian waters by 5 percent to 31.4 million pounds for 2017.
Ian Stewart of the IPHC Assessment Group said the stock is slowly increasing.
The 2017 "blue line" recommendation put halibut catch limits at 26.19 million pounds, down 2 percent compared to the 2016 blue line estimate of 26.7 million.
