Halibut Daily Bag Limit Increase to 2 Fish, South of Cape Falcon, Effective Friday, Aug. 23

ODFW sent this bulletin at 08/21/2019 11:04 AM PDT

Two (2) Fish Halibut Daily Bag Limit South of Cape Falcon

Anglers may keep two Pacific halibut per day in the sport halibut fisheries in the Central Oregon Coast and Southern Oregon Subareas (subareas south of Cape Falcon to the OR/CA Border), beginning Friday, August 23, 2019.

Primarily due to uncooperative weather for most of the spring and summer all-depth seasons, approximately 150,000 pounds of quota remain for the Central Coast and Southern Oregon subareas. Given the total amount of quota remaining ODFW, NMFS, and IPHC determined that this change can be made to allow for additional opportunity to harvest quota in these two subareas, as allowed under the flexible inseason management provision of the Halibut Catch Sharing Plan for the west coast.

Updates to the sport bottomfish fishery will be posted here: myodfw.com/pacific-halibut-sport-regulations

And to the Marine Recreational Report here: myodfw.com/recreation-report/fishing-report/marine-zone

Update to the Three Subareas (through August 11) Below.

Columbia River Subarea:

All-Depth—Closed for 2019. No quota remaining.

Nearshore—The nearshore fishery is open seven days per week.  281 pounds of quota remain.

Central Oregon Coast Subarea:

Spring All-Depth season— Closed for 2019. Quota remaining = 82,000 pounds.

Summer All-Depth Season—Open every Friday and Saturday until quota is met or Oct. 31. Quota remaining = 58,000 lbs. 2 fish bag limit effective Friday, Aug. 23.

Nearshore Season— Open seven days per week until quota is met or Oct. 31. Quota remaining = 23,000 lbs. 2 fish bag limit effective Friday, Aug. 23.

Reminder that on days when the all-depth fishery is also open, such as Aug. 23-24 & Aug. 30-31, the all-depth fishery regulations apply, regardless of what depth is fished.  This means that most bottomfish species may not be retained when halibut are onboard the vessel.

South of Humbug Mountain subarea:

Open seven days per week until quota is met or Oct. 31. Quota remaining = 9,000 lbs. 2 fish bag limit effective Friday, Aug. 23.