NMFS closes trawl pollock in the Bering Sea Winter Herring Savings Area

Directed pollock fishing with trawl gear is prohibited in the Bering Sea Winter Herring Savings Area. A National Marine Fisheries Service closure published Oct. 1, 2026, says the 2026 herring bycatch allowance for the midwater pollock fishery in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands — 2,359 metric tons — has been caught. The closure runs from noon Alaska time on Sept. 30, 2026, through noon Alaska time on March 1, 2027.

The ban includes Community Development Quota vessels using trawl gear. The Winter Herring Savings Area is the Bering Sea box between 58° and 60° North and 172° and 175° West. NMFS said the action is required by regulation so pollock trawlers do not keep taking herring as prohibited-species catch inside that box. The 2,359-ton allowance comes from the final 2026 and 2027 BSAI groundfish harvest specifications.

This closure is separate from the Southeast commercial Dungeness season already on the desk.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: Federal Register — Pollock fishing in the Winter Herring Savings Area of the BSAI (Oct. 1, 2026).