Fisheries Off West Coast States; Extension of Emergency Action To Temporarily Increase 2026 Harvest Specifications and Sector Allocations for Shortspine Thornyhead, Canary Rockfish, and Petrale Sole
Key claim: NOAA is extending emergency measures to increase 2026 harvest specifications for shortspine thornyhead, canary rockfish, and petrale sole based on new catch-only projections showing higher available biomass than prior stock assessments indicated.
Abstract
(Rule · Commerce Department, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) This temporary rule extends emergency measures that increase 2026 harvest specifications and sector allocations for shortspine thornyhead, canary rockfish, and petrale sole in the Pacific Coast groundfish fishery. This increase in harvest specifications is based on new, recently discovered information from the latest catch-only projections, which show a higher biomass of these species available for harvest than determined by stock assessments used to set the 2025-2026 harvest specifications and management measures. This action is necessary to alleviate significant direct economic loss caused by restrictive annual catch limits for these species.
Why this matters
Emergency extensions of harvest specifications directly affect West Coast commercial groundfish operators by increasing near-term allowable catch for three economically important species, which can raise landings revenue and moderate wholesale prices for consumers. The action illustrates how NMFS uses interim catch-only projections to adjust quotas between full stock assessments, a recurring lever in fishery management that shifts allocations across sectors without changing the underlying rebuilding framework.