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North Pacific Fishery Management Council

Managing Fisheries off the Coast of Alaska

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  • Catch Share Allocations
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Halibut/Sablefish IFQ Program

In 1991, the Council recommended an Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program for management of the fixed gear Pacific halibut and sablefish fisheries off of Alaska. The Secretary of Commerce approved the Council’s IFQ Program as a regulatory amendment in 1993, and the program was implemented by NMFS for the fishing season in 1995. The Pacific halibut and sablefish IFQ Program is now the largest catch-share program in the United States.

The IFQ Program was developed to address issues associated with the race-for-fish that had resulted from the open-access and effort control management of the halibut and sablefish fisheries. Specifically, the Council identified several problems that emerged in these fisheries due to the previous management regime, including increased harvesting capacity, decreased product quality, increased conflicts among fishermen, adverse effects on halibut and sablefish stocks, and unintended distributions of benefits and costs from the fisheries.

The fundamental component of the IFQ Program is quota share (QS), issued to participants with a history of harvest in the fishery. QS is issued to individuals as a percentage of the QS pool for a species-specific IFQ regulatory area, and only individuals holding QS are allowed to make fixed gear landings of halibut and sablefish in that regulatory area. QS is translated into annual IFQ allocations in the form of fishable pounds.

Several key provisions of the program include:

  1. the process for initial allocation of QS;
  2. assignment of shares to vessel categories;
  3. provisions that allow the transfer or lease of QS in certain circumstance such as medical emergencies, military leave, and death of a QS holder;
  4. QS use and ownership limits;
  5. QS ‘blocks’ – grouped QS that cannot be broken up for sale or leases –  and limits on block ownership to mitigate excessive consolidation;
  6. a process for allocating annual IFQ based on a participants’ QS; and
  7. the establishment of Community Quota Entities (CQE)

The IFQ Committee meets on an annual basis and makes recommendations regarding potential future revisions to the IFQ program. Membership of the IFQ Committee is intended to represent a broad range of stakeholders in the IFQ fisheries, including representatives from both the halibut and sablefish fisheries, representation covering multiple areas, and IFQ processors. 

The staff contact is Anna Henry: 907-271-1468

Resources

NPFMC
Resources

Halibut and Sablefish IFQ Harvest Timings
Halibut Bycatch
IFQ Committee

External Resources

NOAA: IFQ Program
NOAA: IFQ Halibut/Sablefish Reports
International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC)

Search our eAgenda

More NPFMC Documents
Halibut IFQ Background Documents
Sablefish IFQ Background Documents

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CALENDAR

  • BSAI Crab Plan Team- Virtual Only
     Sep 8, 2025, 8:00 am — Sep 12, 2025, 5:00 pm
      Virtual Only    
  • Joint Groundfish Plan Teams- Virtual Only
     Sep 16, 2025, 12:00 am — Sep 19, 2025, 11:59 pm    
  • Council Meeting- Virtual Only
     Sep 29, 2025, 12:00 am — Oct 8, 2025, 11:59 pm    
  • Bering Sea Aleutian Island Crab Plan Team
    Nov 6, 2025
    9:00 am - 1:00 pm
      Virtual Only    
  • Joint Groundfish Plan Teams Meeting
     Nov 10, 2025, 8:00 am — Nov 14, 2025, 5:00 pm
      Virtual Only or Seattle (TBD)    
  • Council Meeting (final dates TBD)
     Dec 1, 2025, 12:00 am — Dec 9, 2025, 11:59 pm
      Anchorage, AK, USA or Virtual (TBD)    
  • IPHC Interim Meeting
    Dec 2, 2025
    12:00 am - 11:59 pm    
  • IPHC annual meeting
     Jan 19, 2026, 12:00 am — Jan 22, 2026, 11:59 pm
      Bellevue, WA, USA    
  • Council Meeting (Tentative)
     Feb 2, 2026, 12:00 am — Feb 9, 2026, 11:59 pm    
  • Council Meeting (Tentative)
     Apr 6, 2026, 12:00 am — Apr 14, 2026, 11:59 pm    
  • NPFMC Council Meeting
     Jun 1, 2026, 12:00 am — Jun 9, 2026, 11:59 pm    
 

VIEW FULL CALENDAR

Spotlight

October 2025 Meeting

Council Action on Pelagic Trawl Gear

We respectfully acknowledge that the Council regularly meets, and its staff office resides, in Anchorage on Dena’ina homelands. The Council wants to honor the Dena’ina, the Indigenous Peoples who have stewarded this land across generations and continue to do so. We are glad to be part of this community, and to honor the culture, resilience, and tradition of the Dena’ina people.

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