Yakutat's Pacific ocean perch season closes after filling its quota

Directed fishing for Pacific ocean perch off Yakutat is done for the year. Federal managers closed it at noon Wednesday in the West Yakutat District through Dec. 31, the second West Yakutat rockfish fishery to hit its quota and close in the same week.

The perch fleet had a directed allowance of 1,923 metric tons — about 4.2 million pounds. That's now caught. Boats working other groundfish can still keep perch as bycatch within federal limits; they just can't target it.

The timing is routine. Managers closed the same fishery in mid-July last year for the same reason. Its companion fishery for dusky rockfish, with a far smaller 150-ton allowance, closed the same day this week.