Federal managers bar keeping shortraker rockfish in the central Gulf for the rest of 2026

The National Marine Fisheries Service barred vessels in the central Gulf of Alaska from keeping shortraker rockfish at noon Wednesday, through Dec. 31, except for catcher/processors fishing in the Central Gulf of Alaska Rockfish Program.

The 2026 catch limit for vessels outside that group is 113 metric tons, and it "will soon be or has been reached," according to the temporary rule. The agency said the most recent catch data became available Oct. 13.

Boats covered by the ban must now treat shortraker the way they treat prohibited species such as halibut and salmon and return it to the sea. Two groups are exempt from discarding it: catcher vessels using hook-and-line, pot or jig gear, which federal rules require to keep and land all rockfish, and trawl catcher vessels in the electronic monitoring program, which must keep prohibited catch for observer sampling. Those boats cannot sell, barter or trade the shortraker except as fish meal, though they can eat it or give it away.

Shortraker are believed to be among the longest-lived fish in the northeast Pacific, with some reaching more than 120 years, and they grow larger than any other Sebastes rockfish, up to about 4 feet, according to NOAA.

The same day, NMFS barred many central Gulf vessels outside the rockfish co-ops from keeping Pacific ocean perch.

Next year's shortraker limit comes up in December. Council staff told the North Pacific Fishery Management Council's Advisory Panel on Oct. 8 that the shortraker assessment would come forward then, along with plan team findings on whether the council could allow small deviations for some "choke species" when it splits Gulf catch limits among regions. Choke species are fish whose limits can shut down other fishing when they run out. At the council's Scientific and Statistical Committee session a day earlier, council staffer Sara Cleaver described the question as "a two-part exercise": first whether any flexibility exists, then how much.