Will the pollock quota change in 2024?

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) just held its annual meeting and set specific quotas for the U.S. Alaska capture fishery for 2024, with a slight upward adjustment to the pollock quota and a significant upward adjustment to the true cod quota.

According to the meeting's conclusions, next year's Alaska pollock catch limit (TAC) totals 1.519 million metric tons, a 2.6% increase from the 2023 level of 1.475 million metric tons. Quotas of 1.3 million tons in the Eastern Bering Sea area and 19,000 tons in the Aleutian Islands are unchanged from last year. the Bogoslof area quota has been reduced from 300 tons to 250 tons.

In the Gulf of Alaska region, the pollock quota is 195,720 tons next year, up from 156,578 tons in 2023, or a 25% increase year-over-year.

Each year in December, the NPFMC meets to make TAC recommendations based on scientific modeling and reports them to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Typically, the NPFMC's recommendations are adopted by the U.S. government.

The increase in the 2024 pollock quota was largely expected by the industry, but the increase was lower than expected. The A season in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska will start in mid-January next year.

For Pacific cod, the NPFMC's proposed quota increase is relatively significant.The 2024 Pacific cod quota for the Eastern Bering Sea region is 147,753 tons, an increase of nearly 16 percent from 127,413 tons in 2023.

The Gulf of Alaska status haddock quota increased 31% from 18,103 tons to 23,766 tons. The Aleutian Islands quota was adjusted downward from 8,425 tons to 8,080 tons.

As a result, the total U.S. Pacific cod quota for 2024 is 179,599 tons, an increase of 16.6%. As of November 9, U.S. Pacific cod production was 142,595 tons.

(The Atlantic cod quota will fall by 20% next year, and the total Barents Sea quota may not exceed 453,427 tons, and the quota is expected to decrease further in 2025. The rise in Pacific cod production could compensate to some extent for the decline in Atlantic cod. The Groundfish Forum expects Pacific haddock production to be about 336,000 tons in 2023 by country, accounting for 26% of global haddock supply).

In addition, the NPFMC has proposed catch quotas for other groundfish species, with the black cod (sablefish) quota dropping slightly to 39,032 tons; the yellowfin sole quota dropping from 230,000 tons to 195,000 tons; the arrowtooth flounder quota dropping by 1,000 tons to 108, 141 tons; and Greenland turbot quota fell 20% to 6,386 tons.