Western Gulf of Alaska pot cod fishery closes at noon Oct. 23, two days after a 200-ton boost

NOAA Fisheries' Alaska Region announced on Oct. 22 that it will close directed fishing for Pacific cod by vessels using pot gear in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska. The closure takes effect at 12 noon Alaska local time on Friday, Oct. 23, so the fleet does not go over the 2026 total allowable catch set aside for pot gear.

The closure comes two days after the agency gave the pot fleet more fish. In a reallocation effective at noon Oct. 21, NMFS found that trawl catcher vessels in the Western Gulf would not catch 200 metric tons of their 2026 cod allocation and moved that amount to the pot sector. That dropped the trawl catcher-vessel share from 1,956 to 1,756 metric tons and raised the pot share from 2,880 to 3,080 metric tons.

Maximum retainable amounts for incidental catch still apply at any point during a trip. NOAA says its information bulletins are notices only and points fishermen to the official text in the Federal Register for compliance.

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

Source: NOAA Fisheries — IB 26-50: NMFS Prohibits Directed Fishing for Pacific Cod by Vessels using Pot Gear in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (Oct. 22, 2026) and Federal Register — Reallocation of Pacific Cod in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (Oct. 21, 2026).