NMFS biologist Tom Pearson in Kodiak said that the plan team met earlier this year and recommended a quota for the gulf of 79,618 tons for western and central Gulf of Alaska combined. The council ended up setting the quota at 43,692 tons, with 18,127 tons allocated to the western GOA and 25,565 tons going to the central GOA, an increase of 20 percent over 2005. The cod season opens Jan. 1 for pot, jig and longline gear, and Jan. 20 for trawl gear.
The increased quota is a result of a new model used to determine biomass, according to Pearson.
“It’s the next generation of stock modeling that’s been developed for many of the other species, in both the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska,” he said. “The most prominent aspect of this model is that it has a new maturity at age schedule, which means the fish are maturing faster than we previously thought, and when you have faster-maturing fishes, it has the impact of raising the quota.”
Pearson expressed concern that the model also shows declining stocks beginning in 2007 and was not surprised that the NPFMC did not give fishermen the full recommended increase, which would have made the 2007 quota fall even further.
“Since it was a new model that we were using for the first time, and also because there were four years of poor recruitment between 2001 and 2004, the Science and Statistical Committee and the council recommended that just one-half of the increase be implemented for next year (2006),” Pearson explained.
The increased federal quota also means an increased quota in state waters, within three miles of shore. The state-waters quota for Cook Inlet is 3.13 million pounds, up from 2.74 million in 2005. That gets split between pot boats, which get 2.35 million pounds, and jig boats, which get 0.8 million pounds. State waters open Jan. 1, at the same time as federal waters, and will remain open until the state-waters quota is caught.
This year state waters were open for pots until March 26. The jig quota was not reached, and the remainder was opened to pot gear Sept. 1. One boat is currently fishing state waters with pots in Cook Inlet. Federal waters also are open to pot gear, with one boat currently fishing locally.
Kodiak also is gearing up for the cod season. Dave Woodruff, owner of Alaska Fresh Seafoods in Kodiak, was observing a busy waterfront.
“I think it’s going to be short and sweet,” Woodruff said. “I see a lot of the draggers putting pots on. I’m not so sure, with the amount of effort I see lining up to go cod fishing, that there will even be any cod for the draggers on the twentieth.”
Cristy Fry has commercial fished in Homer since 1978. She also has designed and built gear for the industry. She currently longlines for halibut and sablefish and gillnets salmon in upper Cook Inlet aboard the F/V Realist.
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