Federal managers bar many Central Gulf of Alaska boats from keeping shortraker rockfish

The National Marine Fisheries Service barred trawl catcher vessels outside electronic monitoring and catcher/processors outside the rockfish cooperatives from keeping shortraker rockfish in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska. The prohibition took effect at noon Alaska time Wednesday, Oct. 14, and runs through Dec. 31.

Shortraker caught by those boats must be handled the same way as a prohibited species: none of it may be sold, bartered or traded except as fish meal.

The 2026 total allowable catch for Central Gulf shortraker is 113 metric tons, set in the final 2026 and 2027 Gulf groundfish harvest specifications published March 11. NMFS received catch data on Oct. 13 indicating that limit had been reached, according to the temporary rule.

Catcher/processors checked in to the Central GOA Rockfish Program and fishing under a rockfish cooperative quota permit are exempt. The program's cooperative fishing season is authorized from May 1 through Nov. 15 each year.

Two other groups are excused from the prohibited-species handling rule: catcher vessels using hook-and-line, pot or jig gear, and trawl catcher vessels in the electronic monitoring program. Federal regulations already require the first group to retain and land all rockfish and the second to keep prohibited catch for observer sampling.

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

How the shortraker limit is set for next year comes up in December. At the North Pacific Fishery Management Council's Advisory Panel meeting Oct. 8, council staff said the shortraker assessment would come forward then. So would plan team findings on whether small deviations for "choke species" could be allowed without biological harm to the stock when the council splits Gulf catch limits among regions.

At the council's Scientific and Statistical Committee session a day earlier, staffer Sara Cleaver described that as "a two-part exercise": first whether any flexibility exists, then how much.