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.
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 :