9 February 2023
SEATTLE – The International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) completed its 99th Annual Meeting (AM099) held in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada 23-27 January 2023 with decisions on total mortality limits, fishing period dates, and other fishery regulation changes. A total of 134 members of the public attended the meeting either in-person (78) or remotely (56), in addition to six (6) Commissioners, and 12 contracting party advisors/experts.
The Commission adopted the TCEY mortality limits for each IPHC Regulatory Area as shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Distributed mortality (TCEY) limits (net weight1) by IPHC Regulatory Area.
| Contracting Party IPHC Regulatory Area | Mortality limit (TCEY) (Mlbs) | Mortality limit (TCEY) (metric tonnes) |
| Canada Total: 2B | 6.78 | 3,075.36 |
| USA: 2A | 1.65 | 748.43 |
| USA: 2C | 5.85 | 2,653.52 |
| USA: 3A | 12.08 | 5,479.40 |
| USA: 3B | 3.67 | 1,664.68 |
| USA: 4A | 1.73 | 784.71 |
| USA: 4B | 1.36 | 616.89 |
| USA: 4CDE | 3.85 | 1,746.33 |
| United States of America Total | 30.19 | 13,693.95 |
| Total (IPHC Convention Area) | 36.97 | 16,769.31 |
| 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) beginning at 1200 (noon) local time on 10 March 2023 to 1200 (noon) local time on 7 December 2023 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, recordings, and the final report are available on the meeting page at the IPHC website: 99th Session of the IPHC Annual Meeting (AM099) | IPHC.
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
