Hello from the 88th International Pacific Halibut Commission meetings in Anchorage, AK.  The high today will be a balmy 5°, thank goodness the Processors Advisory Group (PAG) has decided to meet inside!

The first day kicked off with a joint meeting.  The 2012 IPHC Staff Recommendations were presented and discussed.  Two topics I found interesting:

1.       The accuracy of the current scientific model for estimating biomass.  New research shows that the biomass may indeed be less than previously thought and a move to a more conservative model seems inevitable.  With the consistent cut in overall quota the last several years the hope was to see an uptick in biomass but that has yet to be seen.  The IPHC Staff will be working hard in 2012 to provide the most accurate model possible going forward.

2.       A decline in the size of sexually mature halibut continues to be seen.  Further research will be undertaken in hopes of understanding the biology behind this disturbing trend.

After a quick break and bite to eat I headed to the PAG meetings.  The group had great turnout this year and good discourse.  The decreasing size of mature halibut was discussed with the possibility of a lower legal size in the future as well as the suggestion of releasing larger fish in order to return large spawning females to the biomass.  Season dates were voted on and the group is going to recommend an opening date of March 17^th and closing date of October 31^st to the IPHC.  After a few hours of shut eye the PAG reconvened on the second day to finalize their formal recommendations.   A vote was taken and the group approved to adopt the IPHC staff recommendations for catch area quotas.  The PAG will now formally present our recommendations to the IPHC and await their final decision . . .

Thanks for tuning in . . . after receiving recommendations from both the PAG and Conference Board the IPHC will meet to decide the official area quotas and season dates for 2012.  This information will be released Friday morning . . . stay tuned!

Over and out,

Keith Goodnight

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