2026 Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Permits for the Halibut and Sablefish fishery are available on eFISH
 *CORRECTION: 2026 Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) has been reissued for all Sablefish Areas due to an error. If you downloaded or printed your Sablfish permit, you should access the new version. All Halibut permits remain the same as originally issued for the 2026 fishing year.
Dear Quota Share (QS) Holder:
Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) permits for the 2026 halibut and sablefish fishery were issued today, March 19, 2026.
The 2026 Pacific Halibut IFQ Program fishery will open at 06:00 am, Alaska Local Time (ALT) on March 26, 2026 and close at 11:59 pm, ALT on December 7, 2026.
The 2026 Sablefish IFQ Program fishery will open at 12:00 pm (noon), ALT on March 26, 2026 and close at 12:00 pm (noon), ALT on December 7, 2026.
Under NMFS regulations, the IFQ sablefish fishery opens at 12:00 pm (noon) on March 26. Therefore, if halibut gear is deployed in the commercial fishery before 12:00 pm (noon) on March 26, then sablefish caught from that deployment may not be retained. If a vessel operator holds both halibut and sablefish IFQ, and the operator intends to retain sablefish on March 26, then the vessel should deploy its commercial fishing gear after 12:00 pm (noon).
There are also different closing times of day for IFQ halibut and IFQ sablefish. Therefore, if gear is deployed to fish for halibut in the commercial fishery off Alaska after 12:00 pm (noon), ALT on December 7, 2026, then available IFQ and CDQ sablefish caught from that deployment may only be retained up to the Maximum Retainable Amount (MRA). If a vessel operator holds both halibut and sablefish IFQ or CDQ, and the operator intends to retain sablefish on December 7, 2026, after 12:00 pm (noon) ALT, then the vessel may only retain IFQ or CDQ sablefish in accordance with the MRA regulations at § 679.20(e).
IFQ Medical Transfer Limitations
NMFS reminds participants in the Halibut and Sablefish IFQ Program of the limitations applicable to the use of emergency medical transfers authorized at § 679.42(d)(2). The medical transfer restrictions state that NMFS will not approve a medical transfer if the applicant has received a medical transfer in any 3 of the previous 7 calendar years for any medical reason. On February 27, 2023, NMFS issued a final rule to exclude medical transfers approved in 2020, 2021, or 2022 from the use restriction detailed at § 679.42(d)(2)(iv)(C) (88 FR 12259). If an IFQ holder has used this medical transfer provision in each of the last three calendar years (2023, 2024, and 2025), then this limitation will prevent NMFS from approving the use of the medical transfer provision through the 2029 calendar year.
Permit holders can access their permits through the following mechanisms:
- Login to eFISH and print your IFQ permit(s): https://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/webapps/efish/login
- Contact Restricted Access Management (RAM) staff toll-free at (800) 304-4846 (select option 2) or by e-mail at RAM.Alaska@noaa.gov and request that we email the permit to a valid email address.
- Due to availability of permits in eFISH, RAM will not be mailing out Pacific halibut and/or sablefish IFQ permits for the 2026 fishing season, unless requested by an individual permit holder.
If you believe there is an error in your 2026 IFQ permit account, you must submit a written request for review of your account to the mailing address below, no later than May 19, 2026 to:
NOAA Fisheries/AKR/RAM
PO Box 21668
Juneau AK 99802-1668
Additionally, 2026 Quota Share Pools and TACs and 2026 Quota Share Use Caps and Vessel IFQ Cap reports can be found at the following link:
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/alaska/sustainable-fisheries/alaska-fisheries-management-reports
Sablefish Retention by Catcher Vessels
Catcher vessels are prohibited from discarding sablefish caught with fixed gear when there is unused sablefish IFQ (for the appropriate vessel category and IFQ regulatory Area) onboard a vessel (See § 679.7(f)(11)) or when a catcher vessel is fishing for a CDQ group with an allocation of sablefish (See § 679.7(d)(4)(ii)). In April 2025 the North Pacific Fishery Management Council passed a motion recommending that NOAA Fisheries amend the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands groundfish Fishery Management Plans and implement rulemaking to allow discards of small sablefish in the Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) and Community Development Quota (CDQ) fixed gear fisheries. NMFS has not yet implemented this recommendation and until NMFS publishes proposed and final rulemaking, discard of small sablefish by catcher vessels continues to be prohibited.
Cost recovery fee reminder
An IFQ permit holder is responsible for cost recovery fees for landings of their IFQ, including any halibut landed as guided angler fish (GAF) (See regulations at § 679.45(a)(2)(i)(B)(1) and (2)). Halibut GAF landing fees are based on the published standard ex-vessel value and the actual ex-vessel value cannot be used to assign value to halibut landed as GAF (See § 679.45(b)(2)).
Contact Us
If you have any questions or need additional information on the IFQ Program, please contact RAM staff toll-free at (800) 304-4846 (select option 2), or by e-mail at: RAM.Alaska@noaa.gov.
Please note that we’ve undergone recent changes to our phone system and individual staff at the NOAA Fisheries, Alaska Region have new phone numbers that can be found in the Alaska Regional Office Staff Directory. RAM is best reached through our 800 number or by email.
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