"Make-A-Wish" at Doc Warner's

Dakota’s Days at Doc’s

July 14-16, 2010 – Excursion Inlet, Alaska

Dakota Madill, along with his parents, Duane and Kay, spent 3 days fishing the waters of Icy Strait as guests of Doc Warner’s Alaska Fishing. The halibut and salmon fishing experience was the wish of this twelve year old boy stricken with Muscular Dystrophy. Sponsored by Make-A-Wish Foundation, Dakota chose Doc Warner’s after he and his father considered several options. Among the many appealing aspects of Doc Warner’s was the variety of fishing, the opportunity to set schedules, and the ability of the staff to accommodate Dakota’s particular needs.

Make-A-Wish arranged for the Madill family to be flown into a small airport adjacent the Ocean Beauty fish processing plant in Excursion Inlet. Upon arrival Dakota was asked what kind of fish he wanted to catch. He responded, “Halibut.” When asked how big of a fish he’d like to catch he said, “As big as the boat (a 26-footer) can handle. Wow! Such a fish would certainly set a new sport fishing record. On his first fishing excursion, later that day, he caught a halibut in the range of 15 pounds. It took his dad and Doc Warner to help him land it. He later said, “That was big enough.” So much for setting a new record. However, the smiles and satisfaction expressed said that this was a wonderful milestone for a unique young lad.

The next day Dakota expended his limited energy supply catching salmon. He and his parents caught several and this time he was landing them by himself. In about 3 hours time he totally exhausted himself; at the same time his smiles grew larger than ever. He had stories to tell of conquering battles against both halibut and salmon and there was more. He was enthralled to watch the bald eagles as they scanned the waters looking for a meal. He got very excited when the humpback whales paid a visit and came within about 50 yards of the boat. Add in a couple of dolphin and a sea lion and we had a boy on sensory overload. It was quite a day that more than exceeded his fondest hopes.

But the fun wasn’t over. Guests at the lodge also enjoyed interacting with Dakota and his family. So many of them acted like they were family, inquiring into his comfort and happiness. On the last night they raised the cheers and sang, “For he’s a jolly good fellow” in acknowledgement of their affection for Dakota. He was also showered with gifts and memorabilia. It was so apparent that each person was reflecting on how good it was to be healthy and strong. Dakota had delivered a powerful message without saying a word. It was hard to tell who took greater pleasure, Dakota or the guests, at his being at Doc Warner’s for those three days.

Halibut fishing in Alaska

The ‘war’ for allocation of halibut has been growing more intense each year. In 2010 the commercial harvest allotment was reduced by 620,000 pounds for Southeast Alaska. No changes were made in the Sport Fishery. HOWEVER, next year the sport catch of halibut for those fishing from Charter Boats in both Areas 2C (Southeast Alaska) and 3A (South Central Alaska) is being significantly reduced. Not only is the daily bag limit on Charter Boats being reduced to one-fish-per-day, but in order for a Charter Boat to quality to fish for halibut they must have Fishing Log Book data to prove they fished in either 2004 or 2005, and in 2008. The Charter Boats will then be given a quota they can catch based on their trips and harvest recorded in their Log Books.
Preliminary estimates indicate that throughout Alaska as many as 47% of all charter boats cannot qualify to fish for halibut in 2011 because they do not meet the 2004/2005 and 2008 requirements.
Clearly the recent round of negotiations and law suits has gone in favor of the Commercial fishermen.
This is not the end of the potential bad news. The Charter Boat fishery has been allocated 10% of the total halibut catch for Area 2C each year; Commercial fishermen get 90%. Before the actual poundage for allotment is given the catch for non-guided Sport Fishing (Alaska residents and visitors who do not use Charter Boats), subsistence and personal use harvest are subtracted from the forecast allowable harvest. The poundage remaining is then spread between Commercial (90%) and Charter Boat (10%) fishermen.
Commercial fishing interests are not happy with the current allocation method where non-guided harvest is subtracted before they get their quotas. They are lobbing to have all sport caught halibut, guided and non-guided, lumped into the same 10% currently set aside for the Charter Boat fishery. On top of that there are those who would have halibut be a total commercial fishery and anyone wishing to sport fish for halibut from a Charter boats would have to annually lease a part of the commercial fishermen’s quota. Thus, the commercial fishermen would control the sport fishery by deciding whether or not to lease some of their quota.
Unfortunately, final decisions will be made in the political arena more often than on the biological data. The poundage of allowable harvest of halibut will come from test fishing. The allocation will come through strength of political connections. Our difficulty in competing politically stems from our small size and organization. Commercial fisheries interests combine all fishermen, processors, and sales and marketing together and claim a $1.3 billion presence in Alaska. They have lobbyists, full-time executive directors, and money behind their efforts to influence federal legislation. Sport fishing is fragmented and poor in relation to the Commercial fishing organization.
Finally, a recent notice on the news contains a query into whether the Federal Government was going to allocate certain fishing locations throughout the United States to specific interest groups. The Feds denied that’s what they are doing but didn’t explain what their real intent was.
It’s too bad that such a wonderful pass-time of fishing has reached the ranks of the politicians.

Alaska halibut fishing-commercial vs. sport

Setting harvest quotas for halibut

Forecasting fishing for the upcoming season has some similarities to forecasting weather. When forecasting weather they look at cloud patterns over a period of time and compare their movement and density (and other factors) and compare them with historical data. From this information they surmise that similar patterns and movements produced a certain kind of storm in certain areas.

Forecasting fish runs also using sampling techniques. Whereas the weathermen use satellite pictures those who forecast fishing use data collected in specific fishing sites over a period of time and then relate this information to historical data to make a forecast.

We have all become accustomed to “checking the forecast” before making final plans for our outdoor activities. Much of the time the relationship between forecast and reality seems only coincidental. Yet we always follow the routine of checking the weather because the weather forecast is the best information we have. Fishing forecasts are generally less reliable than weather forecasts because the data is harder to collect and fish stocks can’t be watched.

The following dialogue narrative contains the Fishing Forecast for our area for 2010. The numbers are those given to commercial fish processors to help in planning their sales and marketing efforts. The information comes from a report issued by the Pacific Seafood Fresh Market Report. Ultimately the data is provided by the fisheries management agencies.

All data are not the same. To keep this report short I will only cover Halibut in this paper, then deal with the salmon forecasts in a later edition.
Halibut regulatory areas are divided into a series of locations. All of Southeast Alaska is in Area 2C. Kenai, Cook Inlet, and Kodiak are in Area 3A. Commercial halibut harvest is regulated by quotas. The regulatory agency is Federal since the fishery covers multiples states (Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and Canada. Those who commercially fish for halibut must have a license which allows them to harvest specific poundage. The poundage is specific to a given permit and reflects the historical annual catch for that license holder.

Quotas are adjusted annually based on the forecast for the coming season. Thus, the quota for harvest by the commercial fishery for 2010 reflects the forecast. The commercial catch quota for Area 2C in 2010 is 4,400,000 pounds. In 2009 the quota for this same area was 5,020,000. The quota for the commercial fishery has been reduced by 620,000 pounds for the coming year. This reduction should help us to have a great halibut year since the fishing pressure in our area will be reduced.
In the next paper we will discuss the ‘war’ on allocation of halibut between Sport and Commercial fishermen