West Coast groundfish pots and longlines get a one-line rule now, color marks in 2027

Commercial fixed-gear groundfish boats on the Pacific coast have a new entanglement rule. NOAA Fisheries published a final rule on Oct. 13, 2026, for bottom longline and pot gear in the non-tribal limited-entry and directed open-access sectors, in federal waters off California, Oregon, and Washington. The Pacific Fishery Management Council recommended the package in June 2024.

The piece that starts immediately is a voluntary single-line allowance. Vessels may fish the covered gears with one vertical line instead of two. That change is effective Oct. 13. NOAA waived the usual delay for those two sections and kept a 90-day delay on the rest of the rule. The rest of the rule, including buoy marks and line colors, is effective Jan. 11, 2027. Gear still has to be attended at sea at least every 7 days. Surface line, measured from the main buoy to the last trailing buoy, may not exceed 60 feet.

Buoy marks are gear-specific. Pot gear uses orange tags or contrasting marks with the letters “GP.” Bottom longline uses brown tags or marks with “GL.” The top 20 fathoms, 120 feet, of each vertical line must be marked in the matching colors: orange and blue for pots, brown and blue for longline. For the first three years, temporary marks can satisfy the line rule. Manufactured line in those colors is the compliance standard on Jan. 11, 2030. The contact on the NOAA action page is Gretchen Hanshew at (206) 526-6147.

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

Source: NOAA Fisheries — Gear Marking and Entanglement Risk Reduction (final rule published Oct. 13, 2026). Also: Federal Register, 91 FR 64791 (Oct. 13, 2026).