NMFS moves 200 more metric tons of Western Gulf cod from trawlers to pot boats

Pot-gear vessels in the Western Gulf of Alaska can fish 200 more metric tons of Pacific cod starting at noon Wednesday, Oct. 21, under a National Marine Fisheries Service temporary rule. The cod comes from trawl catcher vessels, whose 2026 share drops to 1,756 metric tons from 1,956. The pot share rises to 3,080 from 2,880 through midnight Dec. 31.

The agency's regional administrator found that trawl catcher vessels will not be able to catch 200 metric tons of their 2026 allocation, while pot catcher vessels can. NMFS said the move is needed so the full 2026 Western Gulf cod quota can be caught.

It is the second such Western Gulf move in about a week. A reallocation published Oct. 13 took 550 metric tons from trawl catcher vessels and 100 from trawl catcher/processors. It gave 400 to pot vessels and 250 to hook-and-line catcher vessels, part of a 1,000-ton shift Alaska News reported Oct. 9 that also covered the Bering Sea. Together, the two Western Gulf rules cut trawl catcher vessels by 750 metric tons and raise pot vessels by 600.

In December 2025, NMFS moved 220 metric tons from Western Gulf trawl catcher vessels, lowering them to 2,040 from 2,260 and lifting pot vessels to 2,386. Sara Cleaver, North Pacific Fishery Management Council staff, told the Alaska Board of Fisheries at an Oct. 30, 2025, Pacific cod meeting that over the last 10 years, Western Gulf reallocations have typically come from the trawl catcher vessel sector.

Earlier this month in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, NMFS moved 350 metric tons from trawl catcher vessels, now at 25,706, to hook-and-line or pot catcher vessels under 60 feet, now at 4,557. In the Central Gulf, federal managers closed Pacific cod fishing to pot boats for the rest of 2026 on Oct. 7.

NMFS skipped public comment and the usual 30-day wait. It said the catch data became available only Oct. 19 and that a delay would keep sectors able to catch the fish from harvesting the full quota.