Council confirms preliminary preferred ABC/ACLs for multiple groundfish stocks

The Pacific Fishery Management Council on March 7 confirmed preliminary preferred alternatives (PPA) for acceptable biological catches (ABC) and annual catch limits (ACL) for a set of groundfish stocks that will inform final 2027–28 harvest specifications.

Jesse Waller summarized that the council had requested alternative harvest projections at prior meetings and that projections now available for canary rockfish, chilipepper rockfish, petrale sole, yelloweye rockfish and yellowtail rockfish would allow the council to confirm their PPA. The Scientific and Statistical Committee had reviewed the projections and found calculations to be correct; the SSC noted a greater risk of biological overfishing for yellowtail rockfish if high ABCs were fully attained but judged attainment was expected to remain low.

The Groundfish Advisory Panel and GMT recommended Alternative 2 for the species in question, and council member Lynn Mattis moved to adopt the PPA values from GAP/GMT table 1. After confirming the table content and sources, the council seconded the motion and voted. The motion passed unanimously.

Why it matters: Confirming PPAs is a required step to finalize harvest specifications and management measures for 2027–28. These decisions set the harvest control framework used by managers and industry and influence quota calculations, season structures and bycatch risk assessments.

Next steps: The council will take final action on harvest specification numbers at a forthcoming meeting once additional analysis and rulemaking steps are complete.