If the IPHC follows those recommendations at its annual meeting in January, quotas will go down almost across the board, with the exception of area 4B, the western Aleutians. It is the seventh year in a row that the halibut quota will drop.

IPHC staff recommendations are for a total allowable catch, or TAC, of 48.7 million pounds for the entire West Coast, from California to the Bering Sea, down from 54 million pounds in 2009. The recommended catch for Alaska waters is 41.3 million pounds, down from 46.2 million pounds in 2009. Stocks peaked in 2003 with a 59 million pound harvest in Alaska waters.

The recommendations by area for Alaska are as follows: Area 2C, Southeast Alaska, 3.7 million pounds, down 26 percent from the 2009 quota of 5 million pounds; area 3A, central Gulf of Alaska, 20 million pounds, down 8 percent from 21.7 million pounds in 2009; area 3B, 9.9 million pounds, also down 8 percent from 10.9 million pounds in 2009; area 4A, 2.3 million pounds, down 7 percent from 2.5 million pounds in 2009; 4B, 2.2 million pounds, up 15 percent from 1.9 million pounds in 2009; and areas 4CDE, Bering Sea, 3.2 million pounds, down 6 percent from 3.46 million pounds in 2009.

It is highly unusual for the commission to vary significantly from the staff recommendations.

It is another substantial blow to area 2C, which has seen several years of double-digit cuts to its TAC. It suffered a 28 percent cut last season, which was preceded by a 27 percent reduction in 2008. The TAC for Southeast peaked in 2005 at 10.9 million pounds.

The IPHC meeting was broadcast over the Internet for the first time, allowing the public to listen in and follow along with the PowerPoint part of the presentation, although the meeting itself, held in Seattle, was limited to invited agency and industry personnel.

IPHC quantitative scientist Dr. Steven Hare gave the stock assessment portion of the presentation and explained a couple of changes to the way the stock assessment was conducted.

The most significant was the bottom area surveyed, which jumped from 0 to 300 fathoms to 0 to 400 fathoms, a substantial increase in some areas. The reasoning was that some fish were being caught at those depths, although not large amounts, and biologists wanted to count all the fish.

Another change is the elimination of the term "Catch Per Unit of Effort," or CPUE. In its place is Weight Per Unit of Effort (WPUE) and Number Per Unit of Effort (NPUE), allowing biologists more accuracy in assessing survey data.

Also being eliminated are the terms "legal" and "sub-legal" to refer to fish over and under 32 inches, the size halibut need to reach to be harvested commercially. In its place will be O32 and U32, indicating over and under 32 inches. since the sport and personal use fisheries do not have a minimum legal size.

One overarching concern in the stock assessment presentation was the declining weight of individual fish for their age, which was prevalent throughout the stocks from the West Coast to Norton Sound in the Bering Sea.

"Halibut weight at age are getting smaller and smaller," Hare said, "and they haven't bottomed out yet."

He pointed out that size at age declines are a common feature of declining fish populations, particularly black cod.

In spite of that, Dr. Hare said that the total halibut biomass is the largest its ever been, estimated at 1.47 billion pounds. He explained that the "total biomass" is the sum of all fish ages 8 and above, but does not account for their "availability to gear," or being where fishermen are likely to catch them.

The surveys conducted by IPHC last summer showed larger numbers of U32 (previously called sub-legals) than O32 in every area of the state except 4B, where there were 2,361 O32 compared to 845 U32 in the 89 stations fished. Area 3B had the largest proportion of U32 to O32, with 15,837 U32 compared to 10,490 O32 in the 323 stations fished.

There are three year-classes that are starting to make a noticable appearance in commercial catches: 1998, 1999, and 2000.

"These are the year-classes that the fishery is targeting on right now," Hare said.

However, they are taking longer to reach harvestable size. The IPHC is considering a proposal to lower the legal limit from 32 inches to 30 inches for commercial harvest. It will be taken up again at their annual meeting.

There may be good news for the future, though.

"This year we have confirming evidence that there is quite a large number of halibut of young ages, barely at the edge of the commercial fishery, based on our survey this year," Hare said. Those fish should be entering the fishery in larger numbers in coming years.

"The models simply see an awful lot of young fish in the population," Hare added.

The Alaska Board of Fisheries voted not to eliminate the 32-foot vessel size limit at its meeting in Anchorage this week. Proposal 15 failed on a 3-3 vote, with Vince Webster, a Bristol Bay permit holder, abstaining.

Cristy Fry has commercial fished in Homer since 1978. She also designs and builds gear for the industry. She currently longlines for halibut and gillnets salmon in upper Cook Inlet aboard the F/V Realist. She can be reached at realist468@gmail.com.