Federal regulators approve Norton Sound group's trade of unused flatfish quota for 900 tons of rock sole

Norton Sound Economic Development Corporation can now direct 900 more metric tons of rock sole into its 2026 community development quota harvest in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, after federal regulators approved its request to give up flathead sole and yellowfin sole quota it had not used.

NSEDC, based in Nome, is one of six groups in the Western Alaska Community Development Quota program, known as CDQ. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council created the program in 1992 to give coastal villages a stake in the large commercial fisheries off their shores. It sets aside a share of the federal catch limits for Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands groundfish, halibut and crab, about 10.7%, for 65 western Alaska communities within 50 miles of the Bering Sea coast. The six regional nonprofit groups that represent those communities fish their quota or sell the rights to harvest it, and use the money for economic development in their regions, including jobs, training and scholarships.

Each year, the CDQ program gets set amounts of each flatfish species, with more held in reserve. NSEDC asked on Sept. 18 to give up 200 tons of flathead sole and 700 tons of yellowfin sole it hadn't caught in exchange for 900 tons of rock sole from that reserve. The swap raises the CDQ program's rock sole allocation from 8,025 tons to 8,925 tons this year, while flathead sole drops to 3,652 tons and yellowfin sole to 14,815 tons.

The National Marine Fisheries Service said the trade keeps the catch of each species within the limits set for it and that NSEDC hasn't reached the limit of three approved flatfish exchanges the rules allow. The agency skipped its usual public comment period, saying waiting would have held up the CDQ rock sole fishery, which is underway. The change took effect Oct. 1 and runs through Dec. 31. Existing fishing closures and retention limits stay in place.