PORT TOWNSEND — The Port of Port Townsend has joined the port and city of Port Angeles and Clallam County commissioners in supporting efforts to extend the 2018 halibut fishing season.
Port of Port Townsend Commissioners Stephen Tucker and Peter Hanke both voted in favor of the resolution asking the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to extend the halibut fishing season during their meeting Wednesday afternoon. Commissioner Brad Clinefelter was not in attendance.
Most of the roughly 10 people in attendance at Wednesday’s meeting spoke in favor of the resolution, including Jerry Johnson of Puget Sound Anglers.
“We’ve got to keep pushing, or else we won’t be fishing for halibut anymore,” Johnson said.
The 2017 halibut season will last only three days — May 4, 6 and 11 — and Port of Port Townsend commissioners agreed the season is too short.
“With fewer days on the water, that limits the economic factors for coastal towns, and we’re one of those towns,” Tucker said.
The commissioners voted in favor of a fixed annual bag limit of six fish per person — as opposed to the current limit of one-per-day and three-per-year — no poundage limit on the fish caught and pre-2006-type season from the second Saturday in March through the third Saturday in October.
The halibut fishing season has dwindled from a 70-day season in 2006 to 12 days in 2014, 11 days in 2015, eight days in 2016 and now three days in 2017.
Tucker said a longer season means more economic benefits for communities along the Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and along the coast, especially Neah Bay, La Push and Westport as well as Port Townsend.
Tucker said these communities benefit from the influx of anglers who pay to stay in hotels, use boat ramps, dock and fuel their boats and eat at local restaurants.
A longer season also would give anglers more time to meet their annual limits and deter them from attempting to fish in dangerous weather conditions, port commissioners said.
“I think Fish and Wildlife think we’re just some cantankerous old fishermen complaining,” Tucker said, “but we’re directly affected by this.”
The Port of Port Townsend resolution mirrors those passed in Port Angeles. Port of Port Angeles commissioners voted to support the extended season in late February. Similar resolutions were passed by the city of Port Angeles in early February and the Clallam County Board of Commissioners in early March.
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 55052, or at cmcfarland@peninsuladailynews.com.
