Action Grouping: In progress

  • Groundfish Harvest Specifications and Management Measures for 2027-28 (Including Amendment 38):

    The Council adopted its final preferred alternatives (FPA) for the 2027-28 harvest specifications and management measure action at their June 2026 meeting. This action also included Amendment 38 to the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP) which removed the rebuilding plans for California quillback rockfish and yelloweye rockfish, as these stocks are now rebuilt.    …

  • Action in Development: FMP Amendment – Sardine Stock Definition Revision

    In November 2025, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) scoped an action to revise the stock definition specified in the Coastal Pelagic Species Fishery Management Plan’s (CPS FMP) Fishery Management Unit (FMU; Table 1-1 in the CPS FMP). The Council scoped this action to re-evaluate the FMU for sardine due to newly published research on…

  • Phase 2 Stock Definitions: Identification of Groundfish Stocks in Need of Conservation and Management  

    In this action, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) evaluated groundfish currently managed in the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP) to identify and define stocks in need of conservation and management in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).  NMFS has advised the Council, both in writing (Agenda Item E.3.a, NMFS Report 1, March 2022) and verbally at the March…

  • Non-Tribal Commercial Halibut Regulatory Changes: Vessel Monitoring Systems, Seabird Avoidance Measures, and Catch Reporting

    What did the Council recommend?  The Council recommended that vessels participating in the non-Tribal directed commercial Pacific halibut (DC) halibut fishery that only retain halibut must carry and operate a Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) unit and deploy streamer lines when setting gear. Specifically, the Council recommended:  For waters north of 42 degrees north latitude (Oregon…

  • Ecosystem and Climate Information for Species, Fisheries, and FMPs

    As a follow-on to the Climate and Communities Initiative, in September 2022 the Council endorsed the near-term schedule presented by the Ad Hoc Ecosystem Workgroup (EWG). This would begin with the Ecosystem and Climate Information for Species, Fisheries, and FMPs Initiative, which frequently called Initiative 4 (since it is the fourth initiative undertaken since FEP adoption.…

  • Gear switching and trawl allocation attainment

    Based on issues identified in its first review of the trawl catch share program (review of Amendment 20 to the FMP), the Council undertook a number of follow-on actions (see Section 5.0 of the review document, completed in November 2017).  One of these issues was related to gear switching in the shoreside individual fishing quoa…