The total allowable incidental commercial catch of halibut allocated to the salmon troll fishery was 21,635 pounds. The salmon troll fisheries closed June 15 in Washington and June 30 in Oregon with an estimated halibut catch of 17,570 pounds. The remaining catch of 4,065 pounds will be "rolled" into the directed commercial catch limit.

The International Pacific Halibut Commission estimates that the July 8 fishing period in Area 2A resulted in a catch of approximately 135,000 pounds. As the commercial catch limit of 126,665 pounds was reached, no poundage remains to be "rolled" into the incidental catch fishery for the August salmon troll season. Therefore, all Area 2A non-treaty commercial halibut fisheries, including the directed and the incidental catch while salmon trolling, are closed for the remainder of 1997.

Halibut landings from Area 2B total 6.8 million pounds through July 9, 1997 leaving 5.7 million pounds of the catch limit to be caught. The fishery will continue until all IVQs have been filled, or November 15, whichever is earlier. For comparison, from March 15 to July 11, 1996, 5.6 million pounds were landed from the IVQ fishery, which represented 59% of the 1996 catch limit.

The Metlakatla Indian community has been authorized by the United States Government to conduct a commercial halibut fishery within the Annette Island Reserve. Eight 48-hour fishing periods occurred between May 2 and July 6, producing a total catch of 38,173 pounds.

It is estimated that the following catches and number of landings were made in the Alaskan IFQ and Community Development Quota (CDQ) fisheries through July 8, 1997.