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8 CHANGES IN LANDINGS PATTERNS

8.1 Changes in Landing Patterns by State

Table 8.1.1 shows the pounds of halibut1 landed in Alaskan ports, in Washington ports, and in other ports, for the years 1990-1995. The 1995 IFQ halibut harvest was by far the lowest observed throughout the entire period, representing only 72 percent of the 1994 harvest and 67 percent of the 1993 harvest. The lower harvest was due to a 8,978,000 decrease in the TAC, the allocation of 1,198,000 pounds of halibut to the CDQ program, and to a 5,270,482 pound underharvest by IFQ fishermen.

The 1995 volume of Alaska halibut delivered in each of the three reporting areas was also the lowest observed, the 1991 Washington deliveries excepted. The 1995 Alaskan deliveries were almost 10,000,000 pounds smaller than in 1994.

Table 8.1.1 also shows the annual percentage of Alaska halibut delivered in the three reporting areas. There did not appear to be a noticeable shift in the landing patterns on a statewide basis, as each state's 1995 percentage of harvest was within that observed throughout 1990-1994.

In fact, the percent of the 1995 IFQ halibut landed in Alaska was slightly higher than in 1994, even though the volume of 1995 IFQ halibut landed in Alaska had substantially decreased.

TABLE 8.1-1. Harvest by state of landing, 1990-1995

8.2 Changes by Alaska Census Area

Compared to the years 1990-1994, the pounds of 1995 halibut delivered to most of Alaska's coastal census areas fell during 1995. When expressed as a percentage of the entire 1995 harvest, a somewhat different picture appears. In some census areas the percentage of halibut deliveries increased in 1995 even though the pounds delivered decreased. In the Kodiak census area, for example, the 1995 pounds of halibut delivered decreased by more than two million pounds from 1994, but the percent of the 1995 halibut harvest delivered increased from 21% to 23%.

Southeastern census areas and the Kodiak census area tended to increase their percentage share of landings. Southcentral, Alaska Peninsula, and Bering Sea census areas tended to have reduced shares in landings (note that these data do not include CDQ harvests).

Table 8.2-1 shows the distribution of landings by census area within Alaska during the six years from 1990 to 1995. The number of pounds landed in the census area, and the percentage of the yearly harvests are shown for each census area and year.

The use of census areas represents a compromise between a description of landings by port, and a description of landings by some larger reporting unit such as a state "labor market district." Landings by port cannot be reported due to confidentiality limitations.

Even with census areas it was necessary to aggregate in certain areas. The East and West Aleutians census areas were combined into a single group called "Aleutians areas." The Nome, Bethel, Dillingham, and Lakes and Peninsula census areas have been combined into a group called the "Bering Sea areas." The Anchorage area has been combined with the Kenai area to form the "Anchorage and Kenai areas."

The previous section shows that in 1995 total pounds of halibut landed was less than previous years; however, Alaska's landings as a proportion of total landings had increased somewhat. Table 8.2-1, in this section, shows that different regions of the state fared differently in 1995. For example2 :

Sitka is an example of a region in which landings, as well as the percentage of total landings, rose in 1995. Landings in Sitka rose slightly from 1994 to 1995. There was a stronger increase in Sitka's percentage of overall landings. From 1990 to 1994, Sitka had accounted for between six and 6.9% of total pounds landed; in 1995 this jumped up to about 8.7%.

Although landings fell in Kodiak from 1994 to 1995, the percentage of total landings in Kodiak actually rose. Landings in Kodiak dropped more than two million pounds from the previous year. Kodiak's landings, as a percent of the statewide total, increased slightly from about 21.2% to about 23.0%.

Both landings, and the percentage of total landings, fell in the Kenai Peninsula Borough (including Anchorage census area for this analysis). Total landings dropped by about 39% from about 10.2 million pounds to about 6.3 million pounds. In 1994 about 23% of the halibut landed were landed in the Kenai; in 1995 this percentage was down to about 19%.

TABLE 8.2-1. Alaskan halibut deliveries by census area, 1990-1995

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