What happens when the TAC is reached?
Fisheries management agencies around the world set Total Allowable Catches (TACs) – not just the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council (NPFMC). However, very few agencies use those TACs as unbreakable harvest limits; they are not “hard TACs.” In many other areas of the world, when the TAC is reached the agency will not tell the fleet to stop fishing; it will simply reduce its performance by imposing limits on amounts landed, days at sea, areas of catch, and/or size of gear. But in Alaska, when a TAC is reached, the NPFMC orders the fishing stopped. This is another one of the strengths of the Alaska fisheries management system.
