Yakutat's dusky rockfish season closes after filling its 150-ton share

Directed fishing for dusky rockfish off Yakutat is finished for the year. Federal managers closed it at noon Wednesday in the West Yakutat District, Area 640, and it stays closed through Dec. 31.

The fishery is small by design. This year's total allowable catch for the district was 204 metric tons — roughly 450,000 pounds — of which 150 tons was set aside for boats targeting dusky and the remaining 54 held back for incidental catch in other groundfish fisheries. The directed share is now spoken for.

The timing is routine. The same fishery closed in mid-July last year, when the catch limit was 215 metric tons, 11 tons more than this season's.

Boats on other groundfish trips can still keep dusky rockfish they pick up, within federal limits on how much of a non-target species a vessel may retain.