Pacific halibut stakeholders are still in shock from new stock assessment data released last week. The numbers show the total biomass has declined to about 650 million pounds, down from just over 1.2 billion net pounds in 1997.
If the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) decides to go with the management policy it did last year, the 2013 quota -- proposed to be 22.7 million pounds -- would more than two-thirds lower than it was in 2004.
That is exactly what Robert Alverson, executive director of the Fishing Vessel Owners Association, feared would happen.
“We’re
