The Council took final action to recommend a Charter Halibut Stamp mechanism for charter vessel operators to fund the Recreational Quota Entity (RQE). The Council recommended that NMFS develop regulations to establish the fee requirement for a Charter Halibut Stamp and contract with the RQE to develop the fee collection system. The Charter Halibut Stamp… Read More →
Recreational Quota Entity Funding Mechanism
At this meeting, the Council considered an Initial Review Analysis of options to establish a fee collection program for charter vessel operators to fund the Recreational Quota Entity (RQE), and released it for final action. The analysis evaluates NMFS as the primary fee collection agency under different options. Two mechanisms are considered: 1) a charter… Read More →
Recreational Quota Entity Funding Mechanism
After reviewing a discussion paper outlining a stamp program as a potential funding mechanism for the recently-formed charter halibut recreational quota entity (RQE), the Council initiated an analysis to describe potential methods for the collection of fees from charter vessel operators and a mechanism to distribute those funds to the RQE. The RQE would be… Read More →
RQE Ownership Caps
The Council chose to postpone an action that considered increasing the CHP ownership caps for a future recreational quota entity (an RQE). Current Federal regulations limit individuals and entities from holding more than five CHPs (with some exceptions). The proposed action would allow an RQE to purchase and hold up to 30 percent of the… Read More →
Charter Halibut Recreational Quota Entity
The Council took final action on a package that would allow the formation of a non-profit charter halibut recreational quota entity (RQE) to purchase and hold commercial halibut quota share (QS), to augment the charter catch limits in IPHC Regulatory Area 2C and Area 3A. Under the Council’s preferred alternative, any IFQ annually generated from… Read More →
