The International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) is an International Fisheries Organization, having
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
as its members, responsible for the management of stocks of
Pacific halibut
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
or '' Hippoglossus stenolepis'' within the Pacific waters of its member states. It was founded in 1923 by an international treaty. The original treaty has been revised three times (in 1953, 1976, and 1979). The 1979 amendment clarified the role of the IPHC in the management of the fishery through the North Pacific Halibut Act of 1982.
It has carried out many activities including the use of chartered commercial fishing vessels to undertake
bottom trawl
Bottom trawling is trawling (towing a trawl, which is a fishing net) along the seafloor. It is also referred to as "dragging". The scientific community divides bottom trawling into benthic trawling and demersal trawling. Benthic trawling is tow ...
s and
long-lining
Longline fishing, or longlining, is a commercial fishing angling technique that uses a long ''main line'' with baited hooks attached at intervals via short branch lines called ''snoods'' or ''gangions''.bathythermographs, etc., in the
North Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
and Bering Sea for many years. Also, staff have been stationed at on-shore fish processing plants to sample catches, remove
otoliths
An otolith ( grc-gre, ὠτο-, ' ear + , ', a stone), also called statoconium or otoconium or statolith, is a calcium carbonate structure in the saccule or utricle of the inner ear, specifically in the vestibular system of vertebrates. The sa ...
to determine the age of the fish, and many other research activities. The commission holds a regularly Annual Meetings and occasionally Special Meetings as necessary.
Its offices were located on the campus of the
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...
until November 2010. The IPHC has since moved its offices to the Interbay neighborhood of
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...