March 12, 2026 — After decades of restrictions that idled vessels, slashed quotas, and forced fishermen out of the industry, the West Coast groundfish fishery has fully rebuilt, and the men and women who stuck it out say the turnaround is nothing short of remarkable.
In Oct. 2025, federal fishery officials declared yelloweye rockfish rebuilt, marking the recovery of the last of 10 groundfish species that were once fished to below a quarter of their healthy levels. The announcement came years ahead of schedule- regulators had not expected the slow-growing species to rebound until 2084.
“These fish were really severely limited to us,” Aaron Longton, founder of Port Orford Sustainable Seafood in Oregon, told Mongabay. “Now, we have huge quotas.”
The milestone caps a 25-year effort that began in 2000, when then- Commerce Secretary William Daley declared the West Coast groundfish industry a federal disaster. The declaration triggered an immediate reduction in catch quotas for the 10 overfished species. The Pacific Fishery Management Council advised NOAA to close nearly 20,000 square miles of ocean to trawlers, effectively shutting down most of the fishing grounds.