Council approves 2025–26 exempted fishing permit for California Wetfish Producers Association with one abstention

The Pacific Fishery Management Council on April 13 approved an exempted fishing permit application from the California Wetfish Producers Association (CWPA) to authorize up to 520 metric tons of Pacific sardine for EFP research in the 2025–26 season. The council’s Coastal Pelagic Species Management Team (CPSMT) and the Coastal Pelagic Species Advisory Subpanel both recommended endorsing the EFP application because the biological data collected through the EFP can inform stock assessments.

Motion and vote: The motion to approve agenda item G2, attachment 1 (CWPA EFP) was moved on the council floor and seconded; the motion passed with an abstention from the National Marine Fisheries Service representative. The council recorded that the EFP and associated sardine allowance would be counted against the ACL in tracking landings and that the EFP participants committed to managing catches and communicating with NMFS to limit the risk of exceeding management triggers.

Why it matters: With sardine biomass low and the directed fishery closed, exempted fishing permits provide one of the limited mechanisms to collect biological information (age composition, length data) needed by stock assessment scientists. The EFP amount—520 mt—was debated during public comment; some conservation commenters urged minimizing mortality, saying the research sample sizes needed are far smaller than the landed tonnage.

Speakers quoted or cited - Trung Nguyen,…