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National Marine Fisheries Service, Alaska Regional Office

Unguided Sport Fishing for Halibut in Alaska

Unguided Halibut Fishing - Regulation Summary for 2012

The following Sport Fishing Regulations are excerpted from International Pacific Halibut Commission annual management measures for 2012 published in the Federal Register on March 22, 2012. If you are required to comply with the regulations, you should rely on the actual regulatory text and not on this guide . Please refer to the annual management measures under 50 CFR 300 or contact NMFS at 907-586-7228 or 907-586-7225.

  • 25. Sport Fishing for Halibut—General
    1. (1) No person shall engage in sport fishing for halibut using gear other than a single line with no more than two hooks attached; or a spear.
    2. (2) Any minimum overall size limit promulgated under IPHC or NMFS regulations shall be measured in a straight line passing over the pectoral fin from the tip of the lower jaw with the mouth closed, to the extreme end of the middle of the tail.
    3. (3) Any halibut brought aboard a vessel and not immediately returned to the sea with a minimum of injury will be included in the daily bag limit of the person catching the halibut.
    4. (4) No person may possess halibut on a vessel while fishing in a closed area.
    5. (5) No halibut caught by sport fishing shall be offered for sale, sold, traded, or bartered.
    6. (6) No halibut caught in sport fishing shall be possessed on board a vessel when other fish or shellfish aboard said vessel are destined for commercial use, sale, trade, or barter.
    7. (7) Not applicable: only in regard to guided sport halibut fishing
  • 28. Sport Fishing for Halibut—Areas 2C, 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E
    1. (1) In waters in and off Alaska:
      • (a) The sport fishing season is from February 1 to December 31;
      • (b) The daily bag limit is two halibut of any size per day per person unless a more restrictive bag limit applies in Federal regulations at 50 CFR 300.65; and
      • (c) No person may possess more than two daily bag limits.
    2. (2) Not applicable: only in regard to guided sport halibut fishing
    3. (3) In Convention waters in and off Alaska, no person shall possess on board a vessel, including charter vessels and pleasure craft used for fishing, halibut that has been filleted, mutilated, or otherwise disfigured in any manner, except that
      • (a) Each halibut may be cut into no more than 2 ventral pieces, 2 dorsal pieces, and 2 cheek pieces, with skin on all pieces; and
      • (b) Halibut in excess of the possession limit in paragraph (1)(c) of this section may be possessed on a vessel that does not contain sport fishing gear, fishing rods, hand lines, or gaffs.


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