North Pacific Council’s October meeting opens in Anchorage

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s October meeting is underway in Anchorage. A Federal Register notice published Sept. 4, 2026, sets the Scientific and Statistical Committee for 8 a.m. Monday, Oct. 5, through Wednesday, Oct. 7, Alaska time. The Advisory Panel runs 8 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 7, through Friday, Oct. 9. The Council itself starts at 8 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 8, and continues through Tuesday, Oct. 13. The Ecosystem Committee is on the notice for 1–5 p.m. today and 8:30 a.m.–noon Tuesday. Times are Alaska time.

The meeting is hybrid. The in-person room is the William A. Egan Civic and Convention Center, 555 W. 5th Ave., Anchorage. The online link is posted at npfmc.org/upcoming-council-meetings. Council staff contact on the notice is Anna Henry, ahenry@npfmc.org, (907) 271-2809.

The SSC agenda in the notice is Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands crab specifications — the ecosystem status report, the SAFE report, and recommended ABC and OFL — and groundfish harvest specifications, including final ABC and OFL recommendations for Gulf of Alaska arrowtooth flounder, rex sole, skates, and Bogoslof pollock. The Advisory Panel and Council agendas add the 2027 observer annual deployment plan, an initial review of inseason authority to prevent ACL overages, a charter halibut permit data request, a prohibited-species-catch disposition paper listed as tentative, and an expanded paper on IFQ and community quota entity transfers. The Ecosystem Committee item is groundfish management policy revisions and harvest-control-rule communications. The notice says agendas can change and points to the meeting pages for the latest version.

Written public comments opened Sept. 11 and closed at noon Alaska time Friday, Oct. 2. The notice says the Council strongly prefers written comments so a technical problem does not wipe out oral testimony. This is the October Council meeting, not the western Gulf Pacific ocean perch closure and not the BSAI flatfish CDQ exchange already filed.

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

Source: Federal Register — North Pacific Fishery Management Council public meeting (notice published Sept. 4, 2026; meeting Oct. 5–13).