2005 Final Numbers

[kamloops]

Halibut (sport) season closes tonight in the Central Oregon
SubArea.

Pounds left on the table--facts from the O.D.F.W. web site

2005 15,400
2004 55,702
2003 85,972
2002 79,443

October was a complete bust due to weather.
It was a nice effort by those folks who fish the C.C.S.
No doubt that had October allowed a few fishable weekends the C.C.S. WOULD/COULD have come lots closer to getting their fish.

Looking at the Numbers the ave. four years 2002 to
2005 is 59,000 left on the table. If the 2000 and 2001 numbers are correct (zero) fish left on the table ***small
quota*** than that's still an average of 40,000lbs plus
surplus (left on the table) over a 5 year cycle.
Washingtons average fish left on the table zip, nada, none.
Wa. does enjoy a larger % of the West Coast area 2A halibut
but It's a tough argument to make Washington the deciding trigger as to add fish into the C.C.S.

Don Bodenmiller says the halibut numbers are likely at the top of the cycle, bound to start deteriorating.

[KeyWest]

Thanks Tom...

I see we got 500# in all of September???

Hmm..

[kamloops]

Dean

I have been biting my lip on that deal. :tongue:

I only had two visits in 4 days to the Canyon. I know we harvested that much on our boat.

[KeyWest]

Yep - I know what you mean. I believe I had that much. I saw the Bewitched in Hammond unload one over 100#, and 4 at 50# one evening. So..

[whaleraddict]

Thanks for the update Tom. I plan on doing a lot more Halibut fishing down here this year. Had a good year this year just didn't get out as often as I would like.

[kamloops]

John

Your not saying that out of the 13 avail. weekend days minus 50% for bad weather, out of those 6 days, you could not find enough time to fish halibut up here?

[CATCH AND EAT]

WEll my little boat during September pulled 200#s out. Just shows the lack of interest in counting I guess.

Tom Cindy Lou is having a ton of work and updating done right now at Chinook Marine. Yes, yes, yes, the live well will work, oh yeah, it will work. She will be ready to hunt the salt come May 1st for flat swimmers of the deep.

Hoping the PFMC will allow additional quota for the CR and that Pressure will continue to be put on the state of washington to shift some quota to. Oregon is willing but would like to see a contribution to the pot by Washington. Write your fish bosses in Washington to make our point and invite them to join in the fun.

Far as the averaging deal there Tom I am not sure how meaningful that is other than there is a trend of fish left over each year that could be targeted up north if allowed. We will just have to make sure we chew up that quota quickly next season so that PFMC will see we are serious about this fishery.

[kamloops]

Hope we can get some info before 11/8 from the PFMC.


http://www.pcouncil.org/decisions/currentdec.html

[kamloops]

Reports done.

[corrirod]

For the Columbia River subarea, increase the allocation to this subarea from Oregon to 5.0% of the Oregon/California sport allocation ; the Washington contribution is unchanged. The season will be split with the early season given 70% of the subarea allocation, open seven days per week, beginning May 1 through the earlier of the early season quota or the third Sunday in July. Any remaining quota will be added to the remaining 30% of the subarea quota for the late season, which will be open Friday through Sunday beginning the first Friday in August through the earlier of the overall subarea quota or September 30. If there is insufficient quota for another day of fishing in the Columbia River subarea, any remaining quota may be transferred to another Oregon or Washington subarea in proportion to the contributing state.

I haven't kept up with this issue like I probably should have but isn't that a fairly good improvement? Wasn't the original allocation 2%?

Sounds to me like we should be sending Don Bodenmiller some thanks first before we restart the revolution right?

Is the additional allocation enough? Probably not but it's a step in the right direction.

I don't utilize that fishery but Don, if you're on the board, thanks for listening and we appreciate your help in the past, as well as in the future.

[kamloops]

Rod, you are 100% correct.

I am going to send Don a thank you note.

Now, if I could get Dean to figure out what we got.

Looks like a good chance the Wa. boys can throw into the pot
some scraps when they get a chance.

[CATCH AND EAT]

Absolutely Rod. Thank you Don!