Setting the catches and bycatch limits for 2027 and 2028 in federal water fisheries of the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska will highlight the October meetings of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC). The meetings are set for October 5-13 at the Egan Center in Anchorage.
The proposed Total Allowable Catches (TACs) for the next two years will be revealed at the October meeting and finalized in December. However, the bycatch numbers for “prohibited species” of crab and halibut are available now.
Click here for the eAgenda, schedule and pre-meeting review documents.
Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands HERE — Gulf of Alaska HERE
The deadline for written comments is Friday, October 2.
Highlights:Halibut
The proposed halibut bycatch number for both the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands for the next two years remains the same as for 2025/2026.
BSAI proposed halibut bycatch is 3,079 metric tons, or 6,788,033.05 pounds. Of that, 710mt, or 1,562,000 pounds is non-trawl halibut bycatch.
Gulf of Alaska trawl halibut bycatch is set at 1,705 metric tons, or 3,759,040,54 pounds
That brings Alaska’s total allowable bycatch of Pacific halibut for EACH of the next two years to 10,547,073.59 pounds.
As a comparison, below is the level of total removals of halibut for 2026, meaning for commercial, sport, personal use and subsistence users.
A September 16 Halibut Abundance Index Letter from NOAA to Alaska Regional Administrator Johathan Kurland stated: “The 2026 Eastern Bering Sea shelf trawl survey index estimate of halibut abundance is 123,305 mt (272,271 million pounds) and is below the threshold level of 150,000 mt (330 million pounds) in the low abundance state.“
Crab trawl bycatch
NOAA and the NPFMC mix things up by reporting crab bycatch numbers as individual animals, but directed crab catches by fishermen are listed in poundage.
The proposed 2027/2028 trawl allowable trawl bycatch for Bristol Bay red king crab is 97,000 animals, the same as the current year’s take.
The combined allowable trawl bycatch for bairdi Tanners from two districts is 3.95 million animals, again the same as the 2025/26 rate.
For Snow crab (opilio), trawlers can take 6,764,586 animals, down by more than half from the current rate of 12,850,000 snow crab.
