Tuesday January 6, 2026
KMXT —
Last month the department announced a harvest level of 5.3 million pounds of fish for the Kodiak area. Last year’s quota was 5.6 million pounds. And in 2024, the guideline harvest level was about the same.
Nat Nichols, the area manager for commercial groundfish and shellfish fisheries in Kodiak, Chignik and South Alaska Peninsula areas, said when the federal government shut down for a record 43 days last fall, that prevented the 2025 Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod stock assessment from being finalized. He said the state and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council rely on that stock assessment for setting the harvest levels for both the state and separate federally managed Pacific cod fisheries.