In permit news: we have a cash offer of $180,000 for a Bristol Bay drift permit. So far, sellers haven't been willing to go that low - most of our sellers have either countered or declined. We sold a PWS herring seine permit at $15,000 this week, and we still have a buyer offering $210,000 for an Area M drift permit.

The charter halibut fleet will soon be able to purchase halibut IFQ from the commercial sector. The North Pacific Fisheries Management Council created a Recreational Quota Entity (RQE) to facilitate these purchases back in 2018, but it lacked a funding mechanism. New federal legislation included in the omnibus bill passed last month provides just that. The program will be funded via a small fee of $10-$20 paid by every angler on a halibut charter, similar to the king salmon stamp program. The program should be up and running in time for the 2024 season.

The Kodiak Tanner fishery is still dominating the fisheries news this week. The fishery was set to open on Sunday, January 15, but fishermen unanimously stood down, refusing to fish for the $2.50/lb price offered by Kodiak processors. On Monday, APS and OBI upped the ante to $3.00/lb, but fishermen still said "no way, Jose" and haven't dropped pots. The Kodiak Crab Alliance Cooperative negotiated with processors in Dutch Harbor and King Cove, who have said they'd take Tanners from the Westward fleet, and are now working on finding tenders to take the crab from Kodiak out West. If tomorrow's meeting goes well, fishing could kick off on Sunday, a full week after the scheduled opening. 

The Southeast golden king crab fishery will open February 12, with a new reduced limit of 80 pots per vessel.The 2023 GHL is 90,293 pounds.

ADF&G will hold a Zoom meeting regarding the 2023 Southeast shrimp pot season on February 1, 2023, at 9:00 am. The BOF shifted the fishery from a fall/winter season to a spring/summer season, and ADF&G will discuss plans for management and research of the spring/summer fishery at this meeting. 

The Board of Fish held the Arctic, Yukon, and Kuskokwim finfish meetings this week. The results of the meeting will be posted here in the coming days (or, scroll to the bottom to listen to the full meeting recordings). BOF will hold the Alaska Peninsula, Aleutian Island, and Chignik finfish meetings February 20-25. Comments are due by February 3. 

Alaskafish.news has a great overview of upcoming and ongoing fisheries here.