Homer Alaska - News

Less than a month remains to apply for a permit to operate in the guided sport halibut fishery in Southeast and Southcentral Alaska. The limited entry program is due to go into effect February 2011.

A problem interpreting the regulations has been identified, but that issue is expected to be resolved in April.

According to the new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration regulation, beginning Feb. 1, 2011, halibut charter operations in areas 2C, southeast, and 3A, southcentral, must have a charter halibut permit issued by NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service.

Individuals, corporations, firms and associations that logged at least five boat trips during the qualifying years of 2004 or 2005 and 2008 will receive a nontransferable permit. For 15 boat trips in 2004 or 2005 and in 2008, a transferable permit will be awarded.

Permits are based on a specific number of passengers that fished in 2004 and 2005 and can be stacked. In other words, a business that fished two six-passenger boats in two of those years can obtain two six-pack permits or stack them to fish one 12-passenger boat.

The problem occurred when NMFS awarded endorsements for more fish than the program intended, according to Rex Murphy, founding member of the Alaska Charter Association and operator of Winter King Charters.

"For a multiple-boat fleet, NMFS decided they were going to award multiple permits, one for each boat in the fleet, and each permit would have angler endorsements meaning you could take that many anglers per boat, but they decided to take the boat with the largest trip in that particular fleet," said Murphy, who participated in developing the regulation that caps the guided-sport halibut charter fleet.

In other words, in a five-boat fleet that includes four six-pack vessels and one 25-passenger vessel, NMFS awarded the fleet permits based on the 25-angler vessel.

After the imbalance was brought to Murphy's attention by another local charter operator, Murphy raised the issue at a meeting of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council in February.

"The council was unanimous that wasn't their intention at all and directed NMFS to put together an analysis and rule for their consideration at the April 6 meeting in Anchorage", Murphy said. "Unless NMFS screws up the rule really terrible, I think final action will be to basically award permits based on the qualifying history of each boat."

The council's intent is reflected in NPFMC's February newsletter.

"The council intends to more closely align angler endorsements with the actual greatest number of anglers for each vessel that gave rise to each permit," the newsletter states.

If uncorrected, the result could mean a 4 percent increase in seats in Southeast Alaska and a 9 percent increase in Southcentral, according to estimates from NMFS, Murphy said.

"Both of those are a lot of seats, especially when you've just kicked a lot of boats out of the (charter) fleet," Murphy said

Bob Howard, owner-operator of Sea Nymph Charter, is one of the captains not qualifying under the charter halibut limited entry program.

"I didn't fish in 2004 or 2005 because I had taken my boat out to rebuild it," Howard said.

"I put it back into service in 2006, so the way the rule is written, I happen to fall in that situation where, yes, I had chartered prior to and after, but didn't charter in (the qualifying years). So, I'm out."

Come 2011, Howard will be forced to close the door on Sea Nymph Charter.

"In my view, this is in conflict with the American free enterprise system," Howard said. "It's like saying if you weren't running a restaurant in 2004 or 2005 and 2008, you're out of business. It's tough to see this type of action taken."

Purchasing a transferable permit may be Howard's only avenue back into the charter fleet. The permits, which haven't actually been awarded yet, are already being listed for sale on the Web.

Several can be found at www.seagoalaska.org/bboard/bboard_index.asp. For area 3A, the stated selling price ranges from $1,500 to $195,000.

One permit, complete with a 33-foot vessel, trailer and gear is listed at $395,000.

"The (captains) don't have anything in hand yet. It's speculative at this point," said Bob Ward, of A-Ward Charters. "People are trying to see what's going on. It's how the free enterprise system begins."

The bottom line, according to Ward, is increasing the number of halibut allocated to the charter fleet.

"That's the issue," Ward said. "It's not how many boats we restrict and it's not how many people we restrict. It's how many fish we need in order for all of us to operate to make it worthwhile to be in the business."

The application period for a charter halibut limited entry permit endorsement runs until April 5.

For more information on the permit program, see the Web at www.fakr.noaa.gov/.

McKibben Jackinsky can be reached at mckibben.jackinsky.@homernews.com.