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Pacific Coast Groundfish Individual Fishing Quota Database

Published by West Coast Regional Office | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Metadata Last Checked: December 19, 2025 | Last Modified: 2024-02-29T00:00:00.000+00:00
On January 11, 2011, NOAA Fisheries implemented a new fishery management system for the West Coast Groundfish Trawl Catch Share Program as specified in the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The trawl catch share program, also called the trawl rationalization program, consists of an Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) program for the shorebased trawl fleet and cooperative programs for the at-sea mothership and catcher/processor trawl fleets. The new catch shares system divides the total amount of an overall allowable catch or quota into shares (QS) controlled by individual fishermen or groups of fishermen (cooperatives). For the Shorebased trawl fishery, NOAA Fisheries issues quota pounds (QPs) at the beginning of each year to QS accounts, based on the sector allocation and QS holdings (expressed as %) for each QS permit owner.

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