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Council approves Oregon request to reduce canary rockfish sub-bag limit for long-leader fishery
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Summary
The council unanimously approved an in-season adjustment to match Oregon—s December 2024 regulation: the long-leader recreational sub-bag limit for canary rockfish is reduced from five fish to one fish to reflect in-season monitoring and reduce the risk of exceeding Oregon—s recreational harvest guideline share.
The Pacific Fishery Management Council voted unanimously to adopt Oregon—s requested in-season adjustment lowering the canary rockfish sub-bag limit in the Oregon recreational long-leader fishery from five fish to one fish.
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) staff explained the December 2024 Commission action that established the 1-fish sub-bag limit for canary rockfish in the long-leader fishery beginning Jan. 1, 2025. The GMT had recommended the council mirror Oregon—s state regulation to provide consistent federal measures and enforcement clarity; GMT projections supplied to the council showed that a 1-fish sub-bag limit reduces projected total mortality relative to a 5-fish limit but that uncertainty remains regarding how effort may shift among fisheries.
The council—s motion (moved by Lynn Mattis and seconded by Virgil Moore) directed GMT/management to adopt the decrease from five to one fish in federal regulations for the recreational long-leader gear fishery to align with the state. The motion passed unanimously on voice vote; transcript records the outcome as "Motion passes unanimously." The GMT will monitor in-season landings and discard mortality for canary rockfish in both the long-leader and traditional bottom-fish fisheries and will advise the council if further regulatory action is necessary.
Public comment: commercial nearshore permit holder Robert Kranki testified about the economic and operational impacts of nearshore closures and urged reconsideration of depth-based closures that constrain access to shelf species. Diverse stakeholders had previously discussed the fisheries trade-offs between protecting quillback rockfish and allowing nearshore access to other stocks.
Why it matters: the adjustment was precautionary to reduce the risk of exceeding Oregon—s recreational harvest-guideline share for canary rockfish and aligns state and federal rules for enforcement; GMT will continue in-season monitoring and may recommend additional action if mortality trends approach limits.
Action summary: the council adopted the GMT/ODFW recommendation to reduce the canary rockfish sub-bag limit in the Oregon recreational long-leader fishery from five to one fish; GMT will monitor and report in season.
