Abstract

Halibut Avoidance Areas; Spatial Methods to Reduce Halibut Bycatch
Track: Oceans
Authors: Josh Keaton

Pacific Halibut is economically and culturally important. Therefore incidental catch of halibut is limited. Fishing vessels incidentally catch halibut while harvesting other species. One way to minimize bycatch is to avoid areas with higher rates of incidental catch. Using hotspot analysis, halibut rates were analyzed to find where high halibut rates cluster and identify halibut avoidance areas. Using spatial data from 2011 through 2014, several halibut avoidance areas were identified.