The North Pacific Fishery Management Council has approved a measure to cut the halibut bycatch quota by 15 percent, which will be phased in over two years.
The rule applies to halibut that is caught as bycatch by trawl, hook and line vessels and, while significant, is less than the 20 percent reduction in quota that halibut fishermen received for the 2011-12 season.
“The main reason is that the halibut fishery has had reduced quotas, so the bycatch limits should also be reduced,” Jim Ianelli, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research biologist, told IntraFish.
Nearly
