quillback rockfish Archives

NOAA Fisheries Releases Three Flagship Reports: 2025 Status of Stocks, 2024 Fisheries of the United States, and 2024 Fisheries Economics of the United States

October 30, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries is pleased to share three of our flagship reports: Status of Stocks 2025 Annual Report to Congress on the Status of U.S. Fisheries, 2024 Fisheries of the United States, and 2024 Fisheries Economics of the United States. Each of these reports is a crucial part of how we track and monitor the state of United States marine fisheries.

2025 Status of Stocks

The 2025 Status of Stocks is an annual report to Congress on the status of U.S. fisheries. We track 522 stocks or stock complexes to determine their status:

Overfished: population size is too small
Subject to overfishing: harvest rate is too high
Rebuilt: target level supports maximum sustainable yield

In fiscal year 2025, NOAA Fisheries conducted 173 stock assessments and had two first-time stock status determinations as the result of improved or new scientific endeavors.

The 2025 Status of Stocks report shows positive trends: The number of stocks on the overfishing list decreased to an all-time low and another stock was added to the rebuilt list. That brings the number of rebuilt stocks to 52 since 2000. The number of stocks on the overfishing list dropped from 23 to 15 stocks. Of the 372 stocks with a known overfishing status, 96 percent are not subject to overfishing. The number of stocks on the overfished list remained the same at 42 stocks. Of the 265 stocks with a known overfished status, 84 percent are not overfished.

Notably, Atlantic blue marlin was removed from the overfishing list for the first time since 1998 and Quillback rockfish (California) was added to the rebuilt list in 2025.

Managing fisheries sustainably is an adaptive process that relies on sound science, innovative management approaches, effective enforcement, meaningful partnerships, and robust public participation. Partnerships with the regional fishery management councils, state and international partners, and interstate fisheries commissions are also key to the success of ending overfishing and rebuilding stocks.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

New Data Shows Healthy Numbers of Quillback Rockfish off California; Fishing to Resume

September 22, 2025 — New data collected with help from California fishermen has revealed more quillback rockfish off the California Coast than estimated earlier. These findings allow NOAA Fisheries to drop fishing restrictions meant to help rebuild the species.

The change frees commercial and recreational fleets to resume fishing, particularly in shallower federal waters, for many species of groundfish off California, including rockfish. These fisheries generated more than $150 million in landings in some years. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife relaxed limits in state waters in August. NOAA Fisheries has now done the same in federal waters off California, which was announced on September 18.

“This demonstrates the value of good data to support the science,” said Keeley Kent, chief of the groundfish branch in NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region. “The industry stepped up and helped gather a lot more data, and that shows there is a healthy population of quillback out there.”

The first-ever stock assessment for quillback rockfish off California in 2021 was based on the limited data available at the time. It found that the lesser known species in that area was below a minimum stock size threshold. The Pacific Fishery Management Council took precautionary steps to reduce the harvest. NOAA Fisheries determined in December 2023 that the species was overfished. Sustainable fisheries regulations required NOAA Fisheries to develop a rebuilding plan, which further limited fishing for quillback and other rockfish that can be caught with quillback.

These limits hit in 2023 just as low salmon returns also shut down salmon fishing in California for the first of 3 years, said Tim Klassen, who captains charter trips for Reel Steel Fishing in Eureka, California. He’s also a member of the groundfish advisory subpanel for the Pacific Fishery Management Council. “The timing couldn’t have been worse.”

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

PFMC: Pre-Assessment Workshop to be held online October 26-27, 2020

October 1, 2020 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Pacific Fishery Management Council’s (Pacific Council) and the NMFS Northwest Science Center will hold an online workshop to review data and analyses proposed to inform new assessments for Dover sole, copper rockfish, quillback rockfish, and squarespot rockfish scheduled to be conducted next year, which is open to the public. The meeting will be held Monday, October 26, 2020, starting at 12:30 p.m. (Pacific Daylight Time) and ending at 4:30 p.m., or until business for the day is complete. The pre-assessment workshop will continue on Tuesday, October 27, 2020 beginning at 12:30 p.m. and continuing until 4:30 p.m. or until business for the day has been completed.

Please see the Workshop meeting notice on the Council’s website for participation details.

For further information:

Please contact Pacific Fishery Management Council staff officer John DeVore at 503-820-2413; toll-free 1-866-806-7204.