Catch limits for the 2010 halibut fishery were set at a meeting in Seattle Friday by the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC).

The six-member government-appointed commission, from both the United States and Canada, was recommended by its scientific staff to set the catch limit at 48.7 million pounds, but instead set the limit at 50.67 million pounds.

The catch limit for Area 2C, Southeast Alaska, was set at 4.4 million pounds. That is a 12.4 percent cut from the previous year, which stood at 5.02 million pounds.

Bruce Leaman, executive director of IPHC, said the lower catch limit has to do with the lower fish population in the area.

“It’s largely a result of the passing out of strong-year classes out of the stock,” he said. “Researchers also found fish to be moving more than they thought … had to bring catch limits down in response.”

The 12.4 percent cut is better than the 26.1 percent cut fishermen were facing under the staff recommendation. However, Southeast halibut catch limits have gone down by 65 percent in the last five years, and used to be set at around 10 million pounds.

An increase in catch limit for the Southeast area is expected in 2013.

“The main issue there is that there are some strong-year classes coming, but growth rate is low, and taking longer to come into it,” Leaman said. “The ’99 and 2000 year classes will contribute in a major way in 2013, and we’re seeing positive signs in the Bering Sea.”

He also said the Gulf of Alaska (GoA) has the slowest growth.

When figuring out catch limit recommendations for 2010 the staff looked at results from the 2009 stock assessment, changes in the commercial and survey indices used to monitor the stock, a harvest policy that reflects coastwide policy goals, the IPHC 2009 Biomass Apportionment Workshop and discussions on the IPHC online Discussion Forum developed for the workshop.

Compared to last year’s limits, the central GoA area went down from 21.7 million pounds to 19.99, while the western GoA decreased from 10.9 million pounds to 9.9.

The Aleutian Peninsula regions saw a decrease in Area 4A from 2.55 million pounds to 2.33, but had an increase of 15.5 percent in Area 4B. The 2009 limit increased from 1.87 to 2.16 million pounds. The Bering Sea areas 4C, 4D and 4E increased from 3.46 million pounds to 3.58.

The 2010 catch limit totals 50,670,000 pounds, a 6.4 percent decrease from the 2009 catch limit of 54,080,000 pounds.

The halibut season opens March 6 at noon and closes at noon on Nov. 15, 15 days earlier than the 2009 season.

Mirror writer Louis Garcia can be reached via e-mail at lgarcia@kodiakdailymirror.com.