The West Coast dips into the halibut stock Alaska shares

Pacific halibut swim under a single coastwide accounting, and this week the West Coast is working through its small slice of it.

The International Pacific Halibut Commission manages one halibut population across the entire range, from California to the Bering Sea, and Alaska waters account for the large majority of the coastwide catch. The West Coast's Area 2A — Washington, Oregon, and California — holds a far smaller share: 261,211 pounds for its non-Tribal commercial fleet this year, out of an Area 2A total of 1.65 million pounds.

That fleet opens its third fishing period July 21, with an estimated 144,431 pounds left after two earlier openings landed about 117,000 pounds combined. NOAA Fisheries set a 5,000-pound-per-vessel limit, the same cap it used for the equivalent period in 2025.

For Alaska quota holders, charter operators, and subsistence users, 2A's harvest is one entry in the same coastwide ledger that governs their own seasons.