Peggy Parker of SeafoodNews.com provides the following update on 2026/2027 groundfish catches approved by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council at its ongoing meeting in Anchorage:
The 2026 total annual catch (TAC) for pollock has been set at the same level as last year — 1.394 million metric tons in the Bering Sea (BS)/Aleutian Islands (AI) and Bogoslof area.
The difference is how the TAC is allocated this year, with the biggest change in the AI, although at a much smaller scale than the Bering Sea’s pollock TAC.
In the Bering Sea, the 2026 TAC dropped from 1.389 mmt in 2025 to 1.375 mmt in 2026.
The 2026 AI pollock TAC increased fourfold from the 2025 TAC, rising from 5,000 mt to 19,000 mt.
The Bogoslof portion of the pollock TAC remained unchanged at 250,000 mt.
For Pacific cod, the TAC continued a slight downward trend in 2026 of 132,028 mt compared to 2025’s TAC of 142,296 mt.
Sablefish TACs are slightly higher this year in the Bering Sea: 8,996 mt compared to 8,496 mt in 2025.
The TAC for sablefish caught in the Aleutians went down slightly: the 2026 TAC is 7,440 mt compared to last year’s 7,940 mt. The sablefish biomass throughout Alaska is considered one stock, but separate TACs are assigned for BS/AI and GOA.
For GOA, the 2026 TAC is 22,550 mt, compared to last year’s 22,836 mt.
Yellowfin sole in the BS/AI is up slightly from last year, with a 2026 TAC set at 145,000 mt, 10,000 mt above this year’s. It’s significantly below 2024’s TAC of 195,000 mt and 2023’s peak of 230,000 mt.
For each of those years, the total catch of yellowfin was far below the TAC. In 2023 and 2024, it was about half; in 2025, with a TAC of 135,000mt, the total catch as of November 8 is only 81,000 mt.
The Council’s BS/AI groundfish TACs can be found here.
Gulf of Alaska TACs for 2026/27 show big decreases for Pollock, slight drop for Pacific cod. See the GOA numbers here.
