Public Meetings to Discuss the Pacific Halibut Catch Sharing Plan for 2017 Photo courtesy of Matt Blume 1
Meeting Outline Catch sharing plan timeline Proposals forwarded by the Council Columbia River Subarea Central Coast Subarea Southern Oregon Subarea NONE 2
Procedure to Make Changes to the Halibut Catch Sharing Plan (CSP) Process to implement changes for 2017 fishery: Early August: ODFW solicits public input September 12-20, 2016: PFMC preliminarily adopted changes for 2017 for further public comment (Boise, ID) www.pcouncil.org Late Sept-Early Oct: ODFW solicits public input on specific proposals forwarded by PFMC November 13-21, 2016 : PFMC adopts final changes for 2017 fishery (Garden Grove, CA) www.pcouncil.org January 23-27, 2017: IPHC Annual Meeting, catch limits set (Victoria, BC) www.iphc.int 3
Columbia River Subarea Oregon Recreational Halibut Fishery Subareas Central Coast Subarea Southern Oregon Subarea 4
Oregon Overarching Adjust halibut seasons inseason due to bycatch of other species current species of concern is yelloweye rockfish (RF) Status quo: can only take inseason action based on halibut catches Alternative 1: consider inseason changes to halibut seasons if total projected yelloweye RF impacts will be greater than 22% of Oregon recreational yelloweye RF allocation 5
Oregon Overarching Rationale: Recreational halibut fisheries account for a large percentage of the yelloweye RF impacts, depending on year Currently the halibut fisheries are held harmless Halibut seasons cannot be changed inseason due to yelloweye impacts Action can only be taken in the bottomfish fishery Would allow inseason adjustments based on yelloweye impacts, for example Shift quota to nearshore, and/or Expand Stonewall Bank YRCA, and/or Mandatory descending devices 6
The following slide shows: The relative amount of yelloweye RF mortality from trips targeting Pacific halibut; Halibut trips as a percentage of total bottomfish plus halibut trips by year (blue bars); Also shown is the relative percentage of the yelloweye RF coming from halibut trips This is to help illustrate how much halibut trips contributed to the total yelloweye RF mortality in Oregon recreational fisheries. 7
60.0% 50.0% halibut trips as percentage of total % of YE from Halibut Trips Average percentage of YE from halibut trips 40.0% 30.0% Avg. % = 22% of yelloweye impacts come from halibut trips 20.0% 10.0% 0.0% 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016* 8
The following slide looks at the amount of yelloweye RF encountered in a slightly different way The number of yelloweye RF encountered per halibut landed 9
yelloweye per halibut 0.012 0.010 Ratio of Encountered Yelloweye Rockfish to Landed Halibut (in mt) from Halibut Trips, 2004-2015 with mean mt YE/mt Hal YE/Hal Mean 0.008 0.006 Mean = 0.005; or 5 yelloweye RF for every 100 halibut 0.004 0.002 0.000 10 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Oregon Overarching Discussion 11
Columbia River Subarea Proposal from Washington to allow retention of Lingcod on all-depth trips when fishing off of WA and landing into WA ports 12
Columbia River Subarea Rationale: Retention of lingcod on all-depth halibut trips has been requested annually Not allowed due to concern over incidental impacts to yelloweye rockfish Oregon does not have even 0.1 mt of yelloweye to spare WA anglers requesting to be consistent with other WA areas Lingcod allowed on halibut trips Retention would only be allowed on trips fishing off of WA And landing back into WA ports All Yelloweye RF impacts would come from WA allocation, not OR Concerns about confusion of anglers who fish both sides of the river 13
Columbia River Subarea Although concerns about possible confusion by Oregon anglers fishing the Columbia River Subarea are valid ODFW expects to remain neutral on this proposal, as it will not directly affect Oregon fisheries, and does not raise conservation concerns. 14
Columbia River Subarea Discussion 15
Central Oregon Coast Subarea Season and Allocations Eliminate the summer all-depth season by moving quota to the spring all-depth and nearshore seasons Status quo: Nearshore =12% Spring all-depth = 63% Summer all-depth = 25% Alternative 1: Summer all-depth allocation reallocated 75% to spring all-depth, 25% to nearshore; Nearshore = 18.25%» open May 1 Spring all-depth = 81.75% 16
Central Oregon Coast Subarea Rationale: Proposed by ODFW s Sport Advisory Committee in 2015 Had support, but because a major change, ODFW wanted additional public input Often during summer all-depth season, yelloweye RF impacts are higher than in spring or nearshore Yelloweye RF might be more prevalent Yelloweye RF might be on the bite Due to short seasons, anglers may be unwilling to move if encountering yelloweye RF 17
Central Oregon Coast Subarea Rationale cont.: Concern that a few days of halibut fishing could jeopardize several months of bottomfish fishing Summer all-depth halibut days account for on average ~6% of annual allowable yelloweye impacts but it is highly variable and has been as high as 23% in 2-4 days Spring all-depth accounts for ~13% of allowable yelloweye RF impacts, in 12-17 days Use of recompression devices for released yelloweye have helped, however still close to yelloweye total last couple of years 18
Yelloweye rockfish encountered per halibut landed, 2006-2014 For every 100 halibut landed, 16 yelloweye RF were encountered For every 100 halibut landed, 6 yelloweye RF were encountered 19
Encounter Rate Looking at little closer at most recent 5 years, by month Yelloweye per halibut on halibut trips by month 2012-2016 0.12 0.10 2012 2013 2014 2015 For every 100 halibut landed, 9 yelloweye RF were encountered Very low sample sizes 2016 0.08 0.06 0.04 0.02 0.00 Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Month 20
Central Oregon Coast Subarea Modeling Results Estimated yelloweye savings from Alternative 1 = 0.09 to 0.14 mt annually Alternative 1 could reduce the volatility (fewer potential spikes in yelloweye) Trade-Offs Reduces variability in annual yelloweye impacts However summer all-depth is a very popular fishery If allowed to adjust halibut fisheries based on yelloweye bycatch, this may not be necessary 21
Central Oregon Coast Subarea Discussion 22
Central Oregon Coast All-Depth Bottomfish retention Status Quo: on all-depth halibut days, bottomfish may not be retained except for sablefish, Pacific cod, and other flatfish species Alternative 1: allow bottomfish retention on all-depth halibut days, if bottomfish is also open to all-depth 23
Central Oregon Coast All-Depth Rationale: Restrictions on bottomfish retention reduces impacts to yelloweye RF 2015 was the first time since yelloweye was declared overfished that the summer all-depth season lasted into October Bottomfish normally opens to all-depth on October 1 Since both are open to all-depth, request to allow both on same trip Expect low effort in October School is in, weather often turns, hunting, etc. So anticipated yelloweye RF would be very low, if any 24
Central Oregon Coast All-Depth Discussion 25
Central Oregon Coast Nearshore Retention of Other Flatfish Species Status Quo: no retention of other species of flatfish outside of the seasonal bottomfish restriction Alternative 1: Allow retention of other species of flatfish outside of the seasonal bottomfish depth restriction while participating in the nearshore halibut fishery 26
Note: skates and rays are not flatfish. Other species of flatfish are defined as: species of sole, flounder, sanddab, and halibuts other than Pacific halibut. Flatfish Not Flatfish Fish photos courtesy of WDFW 27
Central Oregon Coast Nearshore Rationale: Beginning in 2015 other species of flatfish allowed to be retained on all-depth days Other flatfish species live over soft substrates Low chance of additional yelloweye rockfish impacts Yelloweye rockfish tend to live over harder substrates 28
Central Oregon Coast Nearshore Discussion 29
Southern Oregon Subarea No changes proposed for 2017 30
End of Background Materials 31