Southeast longliners benefit from healthy halibut stocks

While the pink salmon harvest is coming in below expectations for price and quantity, the commercial halibut fishery is going strong for Area 2C, which includes Petersburg and other Southeast communities.

A quota share update from the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) released Aug. 19 showed that almost 2.8 million pounds of halibut have been landed in the district. That’s three-quarters of the quota for the district— just under 3.7 million pounds—and almost the equivalent of the total 2013 catch limit.

Local longliners have seen their catch limits increase in recent years. One i...