Sablefish Landings

Landings of IFQ sablefish through April 14 totaled 4.6 million pounds, 15 percent of allowable catch for the 2008 season. This is above the typical cumulative harvest of 12 percent for mid-April. Ex-vessel price for sablefish has reportedly increased and some of the additional landings volume may be the result of longliners targeting sablefish instead of halibut in the early season.

 

Unlike the steady landings pattern for halibut, landings of IFQ sablefish have a distinct peak in the Spring. Over half the sablefish TAC is landed between April and June, with 20 percent or more normally landed in May and in June.

 

 

 

 

 

Sablefish Supply

Like the halibut TAC, the IFQ sablefish TAC has been declining moderately but steadily from the high point of 2004. The 2008 TAC is 30 million pounds, down from 33 million in 2007.

 

The 2004 IFQ sablefish TAC of 38 million pounds was a 12-year high point, and the decline to 30 million pounds in 2008 represents a return to typical TACs of the late 1990s and early part of this decade. From 1997 to 2002, the IFQ sablefish TAC averaged 29.3 million pounds and never exceeded 30 million.

 

The sablefish market is sensitive to supply and with the supply reduction in 2008, prices appear to be responding. Ex-vessel price in some Gulf of Alaska ports has reportedly reached $3 per pound, round-weight basis.