A share-based management program for the central Gulf of Alaska rockfish fishery

In 2005, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council adopted a pilot share-based program for management of the central Gulf of Alaska trawl rockfish fisheries. The program apportions the total allowable catch into exclusive shares that are allocated to cooperatives, based on the catch history of the members of those cooperatives. Allocating exclusive shares is expected to allow the harvest to be spread over a much longer season, allowing participants to schedule their activities and save on costs of fishing and processing. Historically, participants in the rockfish fishery have focused on maintaining quality of incidental catch species (such as sablefish and Pacific cod). The change in management should allow participants, particularly those in the catcher vessel/shore plant sector, to focus added efforts on producing higher valued, better quality products from targeted rockfish. Efforts are likely to be made to serve fresh fish markets with rockfish that could not be accessed under the existing management.