Relaxed Charter Halibut Regulations

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There was an emergency meeting for a possible rule change for 2020. The proposed changes are below and approved by the first group. entire process could take up to 5 weeks. So we are looking end of June time frame for rules to take effect if they are approved by all agencies. 

• Charter fishing 7 days a week  (Current is no Tuesday or Wednesdays all year) 
• 2 fish daily bag limit, 1 fish any size, 2nd fish 32"or less (Current 1 fish any size 2nd fish 26" or less)
• No annual limit, one charter trip per day (Current 4 fish a year)

     The regulations would remain in place through the rest of the season.

     It is unclear from the discussion how long the official regulatory processes will take. It involves the state, the feds and the international Halibut Commission. The NMFS representative reported that it might take 5 weeks to enact the change. The Council asked all agencies to act quickly.

   The IPHC has to approve the measures, and it could act fairly quickly. Federal rules take longer, and we will find out more soon.