In February, the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) meetings took place in Vancouver. Established in 1924, the IHCP was established by a convention between Canada and the United States of America and was the first international agreement to provide joint management of the resource. Their mission is, ““… to develop the stocks of [Pacific] halibut in the Convention waters to those levels which will permit the optimum yield from the fishery and to maintain the stocks at those levels. ….” IPHC Convention, Article I, sub-article I, para. 2). A summary report is published annually, specifying the halibut allocation and mortality limits for commercial and recreational harvest. The 2024 Annual Report can be downloaded here.
According to the Sport Fishing Institute of BC’s (SFI) newsletter, “While halibut harvest rates and sizes were found to be slightly declining in the eastern Pacific regions (including Southeast Alaska, BC, Washington, and Oregon), there were more significant declines in the areas to the west and north. When comparing to previous catch targets and current halibut biomass survey data, IPHC scientists recommended, and the Commission approved, a significant reduction in harvest levels with the objective of sustainable halibut fisheries in both the US and Canada. A coastwide harvest reduction of 15.8% was agreed to for 2025. This reduction will not be applied equally across all regions, with more substantial cuts in areas facing challenges maintaining catch rates, especially those impacted by high bycatch in pollock and trawl fisheries to the north and west of BC. Concerns about low recruitment, significant reductions in halibut weight at age, and continued trawl fisheries in areas where small halibut are present have contributed to the necessity for this adjustment.
Joel Unickow halibut (Photo: Rob Frawley Lucky Strike Sportfishing Tofino)
With the 15.8% reduction in Canada’s total allowable catch (TAC), it is expected that season length and daily and possession limits will need to be reduced compared to 2024. Both the 2023 and 2024 seasons were shortened by DFO due to catch overages. The overage from the previous season is applied to the next year’s catch limit. In 2024, the recreational fishery exceeded the catch limit by 30,000 lbs. With these adjustments, the recreational halibut TAC for 2025 will be approximately 650,000 lbs, the lowest for the recreational sector ever and down from 805,679 lbs. in 2024.” The original 2024 Halibut Regulation Update can be found here.
Halibut with octopus beaks (Photo: Joel Unickow)
According to Bill Campbell, President of the South Vancouver Island Anglers Coalition (SVIAC) in 2024, Canada’s TAC was 826,619 lbs, but as the fishery exceeded its limit, the overage of almost 30,000 lbs was deducted from the 2025 Recreational TAC to 680,250 lbs.
With this, the Sport Fishing Advisory Board (SFAB) makes recommendations to Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) about when the season opens, closes, size of fish, and how many halibut can be harvested per recreational angler to maximize opportunities within the Total Allowable Catch (TAC).
The SFAB has recommended new regulations to DFO, and they are awaiting approval and FN announcements: 2025 season to open April 1, 2025, with daily and total possession limits being 1 halibut, not exceeding 102 cm for Area 2B (British Columbia).
According the IPHC length-weight ratio (2023), an average 102 cm halibut caught in area 2B should weigh approximately 9.9 kg, or 21.8 lbs (head off weight) round weight about 30 lbs.
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