Sport Fishing
RSSSport Fishing in Alaska is recreational angling for salmon, halibut, rockfish and other species in marine and freshwater waters statewide. It covers derby results, dipnetting and personal-use openings, charter and guide operations, and bag-limit changes issued by state fishery managers.
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Southeast charter fleet tops its halibut share for a sixth straight year
Southeast Alaska's charter halibut fleet went over its catch share again this year, preliminary state estimates show, as federal fishery managers prepare to recommend next year's limits for guided anglers in December.
It is the sixth straight year the Southeast fleet has topped its allocation, even as size limits have tightened. In 2021, charter anglers there could keep one halibut a day 50 inches or shorter, or 72 inches or longer. This year it was 34 inches or shorter, or 80 inches or longer, and no halibut could be kept on Thursdays from June 18 through Sept. 10.
The fleet's removals, which count fish kept plus those estimated to die after release, came to 672,859 pounds this year, about 23,000 pounds or 3.5% over its 650,000-pound allocation, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's estimates. The allocation was 810,000 pounds in 2021.
Southcentral Alaska's charter fleet has had the opposite result. It has come in under its allocation for five straight years, and this year landed about 74,000 pounds, or 5%, short of 1.47 million pounds.
Charter allocations depend on catch limits the International Pacific Halibut Commission sets each January, and the halibut stock is near its lowest level in four decades.
For 2027, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council's charter committee has asked the state to analyze Southeast limits ranging from 32 inches or shorter, or 50 or longer, to 50 inches or shorter, or 80 or longer. Another option would let each angler keep one fish of any size per year, recorded on the back of their fishing license, with the daily limit possibly dropping to 28 inches or lower, according to the committee's motion.
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About Sport Fishing
Sport fishing in Alaska is recreational angling for salmon, halibut, rockfish, lingcod and other species in marine and fresh waters across the state. It takes in fishing by residents and visitors, charter and guide operations, youth fisheries and community derbies.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game manages sport fisheries and adjusts bag limits and openings by emergency order as runs come in stronger or weaker than expected. Federal harvest limits govern some marine species, and rules often differ for residents and nonresidents. Questions that recur include coho and king salmon run strength, daily limits on rivers such as the Kenai and Ship Creek, the charter halibut fleet's share of the catch, and retention rules for rockfish and lingcod.
Sport fishing is closely tied to commercial fisheries and subsistence, which draw on the same fish stocks, and to hatcheries that support runs near towns such as Juneau and Seward. Waters from Southeast Alaska and Prince William Sound to the Kenai Peninsula and the Mat-Su each have their own seasons and rules.
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