Buck Laukitis' boat, the Oracle, sits in Homer last month before unloading its catch of halibut. (Nathaniel Herz/Northern Journal)
Buck Laukitis’ boat, the Oracle, sits in Homer last month before unloading its catch of halibut. (Nathaniel Herz/Northern Journal)

HOMER — On a brilliant spring morning, Buck Laukitis, a longtime fisherman from this Kenai Peninsula town, stood at the city dock watching his catch come ashore.

Crew members aboard Laukitis’ boat, the Oracle, filled bags with dozens of halibut — some of the fatter ones worth $200 or more — which a crane would lift up…