Fisheries Off West Coast States; Extension of Emergency Action To Temporarily Increase 2026 Harvest Specifications and Sector Allocations for Shortspine Thornyhead, Canary Rockfish, and Petrale Sole

Samenvatting

This temporary rule extends emergency measures that increase 2026 harvest specifications and sector allocations for shortspine thornyhead, canary rockfish, and petrale sole in the Pacific Coast groundfish fishery. This increase in harvest specifications is based on new, recently discovered information from the latest catch-only projections, which show a higher biomass of these species available for harvest than determined by stock assessments used to set the 2025-2026 harvest specifications and management measures. This action is necessary to alleviate significant direct economic loss caused by restrictive annual catch limits for these species.