NOAA Fisheries closes Western Gulf cod to pot boats for 2026, days after adding quota

NOAA Fisheries closed directed fishing for Pacific cod by pot-gear vessels in the Western Gulf of Alaska at noon Friday, Oct. 23. The closure runs through midnight Dec. 31, Alaska local time.

The closure came two days after managers shifted 200 more metric tons of cod to the pot fleet. The agency says the closure is meant to keep pot vessels from going over their 2026 Western Gulf Pacific cod share of 3,080 metric tons.

The same rule lists a directed fishing allowance of 2,480 metric tons, with nothing set aside for incidental catch, and says that allowance "will be or has been reached." The rule does not explain the gap between that figure, which matches the pot share before this month's two reallocations, and the 3,080-ton share.

On Oct. 13, NMFS moved 650 metric tons of cod the trawl fleet was not expected to catch: 550 tons from trawl catcher vessels and 100 from trawl catcher/processors. That raised the pot share from 2,480 to 2,880 tons and the hook-and-line catcher vessel share from 91 to 341 tons. On Oct. 21, it shifted 200 more tons from trawl catcher vessels to pot vessels, raising the pot share to 3,080 tons and cutting the trawl catcher vessel share to 1,756. NMFS said trawl catcher vessels could not catch those tons, while pot vessels could.

The closure notice did not report the pot fleet's catch. The agency's weekly Gulf of Alaska catch report shows all gear types together caught 5,630 metric tons of Western Gulf Pacific cod through Oct. 17. That is 84% of a 6,693-ton quota, leaving 1,063 tons.

Pot boats may still keep some Pacific cod taken while fishing for other species, up to federal maximum retainable amounts.

The pot fleet's A season closed Feb. 1 at a 1,027-ton allowance, and fishing stayed closed until Sept. 1. In 2019, the Western Gulf pot sector closed Oct. 20 for the rest of that year.

The Federal Register notice is scheduled for publication Tuesday, Oct. 27, four days after the closure took effect.