Prince William Sound parallel cod season closes to pot gear at noon Wednesday

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game will close the Prince William Sound Area parallel Pacific cod season to pot gear at noon Wednesday, Oct. 7, under an emergency order posted Monday. Parallel longline hook and jig seasons remain open.

The closure comes "in conjunction with the federal 'B' season closure," the order states. The parallel season is managed concurrently with Pacific cod fisheries in adjacent federal waters of the Central Gulf of Alaska, according to the department's 2026 groundfish outlook for Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet. It opened at noon Sept. 1 to pot vessels and longline hook vessels under 50 feet.

Under the outlook, a state-waters pot season would open 24 hours after the parallel closure. But the department said in May that pot and jig boats had reached their share of this year's state-waters harvest limit on March 6, and the new order announces no reopening.