31 January 2022

SEATTLE – The International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) Regulatory Area 2A is located on the West Coast of the U.S.A. in waters off Washington (WA), Oregon (OR), and California (CA). The IPHC sets the overall total fishery removals (mortality limit) for the Regulatory Area. The domestic Catch Sharing Plan for IPHC Regulatory Area 2A, as adopted by the Pacific Fishery Management Council and NOAA-Fisheries, is then used to further allocate the total fishery removals among user groups/sectors.

Commercial and recreational charter vessels retaining Pacific halibut in IPHC Regulatory Area 2A must be licensed by the IPHC. Only vessels with a licence issued from the IPHC may participate in these fisheries and is eligible to receive allocation within the directed commercial fishery as a fishing period limit, which is also set and issued by the IPHC.

Applicants may choose from among three commercial and one recreational charter fishery licences by the application deadlines noted below. All applications must be completed no later than 11:59 p.m. (Pacific Time) on the applicable deadline date. Late applications will not be accepted. Federal and state licensing requirements may also apply.

Application Deadlines for 2022:

• Recreational Pacific Halibut Charter – none
• Incidental Commercial Pacific halibut during Salmon Troll – 15 March 2022
• Incidental Commercial Pacific halibut during Longline Sablefish Fishery – 30 May 2022
• Directed Commercial – 02 May 2022

Applications must be submitted via the IPHC website at the following link:

2022 licence application form: https://www.iphc.int/management/fisheries/directed-commercial-fisheries/directed-iphc-regulatory-area-2a

Please contact the IPHC Secretariat at: secretariat@iphc.int, should you have any questions or require assistance.

IPHC Secretariat
International Pacific Halibut Commission
2320 W. Commodore Way, Suite 300
Seattle, WA 98199-1287
206-634-1838 | www.iphc.int

31 January 2022

SEATTLE – The International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) completed its 98^th Annual Meeting (AM098) electronically on 28 January 2022 with decisions on total mortality limits, fishing period dates, and other fishery regulation changes. A total of 172 individual Pacific halibut stakeholders attended the meeting via the electronic platform, in addition to the delegations from Canada (12) and the United States of America (15).     

The Commission adopted the distributed mortality (TCEY) limits for each IPHC Regulatory Area as shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Distributed mortality (TCEY) limits  (net weight^[1]) by IPHC Regulatory Area. 

Contracting Party: IPHC Regulatory Area	Mortality limit (TCEY) (mlbs)	Mortality limit (TCEY) (metric tonnes)
Canada Total: 2B	7.56	3,429
USA: 2A	1.65	748
USA: 2C	5.91	2,681
USA: 3A	14.55	6,600
USA: 3B	3.90	1,769
USA: 4A	2.10	953
USA: 4B	1.45	658
USA: 4CDE	4.10	1,860
USA: Total	33.66	15,268
Total (IPHC Convention Area)	41.22	18,697

_{^[1] “net weight” of a Pacific halibut means the weight of Pacific halibut that is without gills and entrails, head-off, washed (without ice and slime). If a Pacific halibut is weighed with the head on or with ice and slime, the required conversion factors for calculating net weight are a 2 percent deduction for ice and slime and a 10 percent deduction for the head.}

The IPHC recommended an overall fishing period (season) of 06 March – 07 December 2022 for all directed commercial Pacific halibut fisheries in Canada and the USA. In IPHC Regulatory Area 2A, the tribal and non-tribal commercial fisheries will occur within these dates. 

In accordance with the IPHC Convention, the fishery regulations approved by the IPHC, including mortality limits, and fishing periods, will be recommended to the Contracting Parties for implementation according to their domestic laws and regulations.    

Meeting information, documents, presentations, and audio recordings, are available on the meeting page at the IPHC website:  98^th Session of the IPHC Annual Meeting (AM098) | IPHC. The final report of the meeting will be published in due course.

For further information please contact the IPHC Secretariat at secretariat@iphc.int or 206.634.1838.

IPHC Secretariat
International Pacific Halibut Commission
2320 W. Commodore Way, Suite 300
Seattle, WA 98199-1287
206-634-1838 | www.iphc.int

17 December 2021

SEATTLE – The International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) is seeking to charter longline vessels to conduct its Fishery-Independent Setline Survey (FISS) in 2022. The primary purpose of the FISS is to collect standardised data for use in the Pacific halibut stock assessment. This information collected is also used to study aspects of the Pacific halibut resource such as growth, distribution, biomass, age composition, sexual maturity, and relative abundance of other species. Legal-sized Pacific halibut and Pacific halibut less than 32 inches in length that have been sampled, as well as incidentally caught fish (byproduct) that will die upon release will be retained, sampled for biological data and sold by the IPHC to offset FISS expenses.

The 2022 FISS will cover 28 charter regions within the IPHC Convention Area with a standard grid of stations from Oregon to the northern Bering Sea, including the Aleutian Islands. The FISS must be completed between 27 May and 31 August 2022.

The IPHC will consider only those vessels with captains and crews that have recent (within five years) Pacific halibut fishing experience. The IPHC may require an inspection of the vessel prior to awarding the charter.

Vessels need not be licensed for Pacific halibut fishing in Canada or the USA to be eligible. The IPHC is not restricted as to nationality of the vessels it charters for operation in any region as long as customs and immigration regulations are followed.

Interested vessel owners are invited to submit tenders based upon the 2022 IPHC Fishery-Independent Setline Survey (FISS) Vessel Tender Specifications. The Tender Specifications and Vessel Tender Forms for this project may be downloaded and accessed directly from the IPHC website: Vessel Recruiting | IPHC.

The IPHC will not be obligated to accept the tender with the lowest bid or any tender received and will contract according to its best interests.

Vessels will be rated using the following criteria:

1) seaworthiness and general condition of the vessel and its equipment.

2) the vessel’s availability within the schedule determined solely by the IPHC Secretariat,

3) the vessel captain’s experience and fishing record,

4) the qualifications of the selected crew,

5) IPHC operating costs (tender amounts)

6) Previous interactions with the IPHC and its Secretariat, experience with the IPHC FISS, scheduling flexibility, and ability to take additional Secretariat are other factors to be potentially considered in the decision-making process.

***Preference may also be given to tenders that provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination***

All IPHC Secretariat personnel are required to be vaccinated – proof is available to vessel captains upon request.

Submissions must be completed no later than 23:59 (Pacific) on 31 January 2022.

For further information please contact the IPHC Secretariat at secretariat@iphc.int or 206.634.1838.

IPHC Secretariat
International Pacific Halibut Commission
2320 W. Commodore Way, Suite 300
Seattle, WA 98199-1287
206-634-1838 | www.iphc.int

17 December 2021

SEATTLE – The 98^th Session of the IPHC Annual Meeting (AM098) and associated subsidiary body meetings will now only be held electronically via Adobe Connect from 24 – 28 January 2022.

The Commission requests that all participants register for the meetings via the following pages:

98th Session of the IPHC Annual Meeting (AM098) – https://www.iphc.int/venues/details/98th-session-of-the-iphc-annual-meeting-am098

98th Session of the IPHC Finance and Administration Committee (FAC098) – https://www.iphc.int/venues/details/98th-session-of-the-iphc-finance-and-administration-committee-fac098

92nd Session of the IPHC Conference Board (CB092) – https://www.iphc.int/venues/details/92nd-session-of-the-iphc-conference-board-cb092

27th Session of the IPHC Processor Advisory Board (PAB027) – https://www.iphc.int/venues/details/27th-session-of-the-iphc-processor-advisory-board-pab027

For further information please contact the IPHC Secretariat at secretariat@iphc.int or 206.634.1838.

IPHC Secretariat
International Pacific Halibut Commission
2320 W. Commodore Way, Suite 300
Seattle, WA 98199-1287
206-634-1838 | www.iphc.int