Council adopts short‑term changes to COP 20 to speed Highly Migratory Species EFPs

The Pacific Fishery Management Council on Sept. 24 adopted revisions to Council Operating Procedure (COP) 20 to speed up and clarify how exempted fishing permits (EFPs) for highly migratory species are reviewed by the council and NOAA Fisheries. The Fisheries Innovation Workgroup (FIW) and HMS advisory bodies developed near‑term, targeted edits focused on meeting timing and process clarity; the council approved those changes for immediate use and allowed staff to make editorial updates for consistency across COPs.

Why it matters

EFPs allow applicants to test new gears, methods or data collection approaches that are outside existing regulations. The HMS EFP process has been identified as an area where faster council review could create new domestic fishing opportunities, improve experimental gear uptake and reduce the time between application and field evaluation.

What the council changed

The FIW proposed three core changes to COP 20 that the council adopted:

- Change the regular council review schedule for HMS EFP applications from June/September to November/March, aligning council consideration closer to the fishing season and enabling applicants to have council input for the next year’s season.

- Allow certain EFPs to…