In 2003, the Commission implemented an extensive coast-wide halibut tagging program using PIT tags. The goals of this tagging project are: 1) to provide a direct estimate of abundance that is independent of the current stock assessment model; 2) provide exploitation rates in areas where no analytic assessment exists; 3) provide estimates of the movement rates among management areas.

The goal of the scan sampling program is to scan 25% of all halibut landed from each regulatory area in the commercial fishery.  Area 2A is the only regulatory area where scanning is also done on sport catch because a large portion of the 2A halibut quota is allocated to the sport fishery.

In Alaska and British Columbia, scan samplers are deployed in the same ports staffed by IPHC port samplers, with the addition of Ucluelet and Tofino in BC.  

IPHC hires seasonal employees for Alaska, while BC ports are sampled under a contract with Archipelago Marine Research (AMR). In Area 2A, the commercial landings are scanned by IPHC staff, tribal biologists, and contract employees. The 2A sport catch is scanned by biologists from the Washington and Oregon Departments of Fish and Wildlife.