Pacific Cod Trawl Cooperative Program Applications and Report Forms

The Pacific Cod Trawl Cooperative (PCTC) Program assigns quota share (QS) to qualifying groundfish License Limitation Program (LLP) license holders and qualifying processors.  QS holders are required to join a cooperative,  and the aggregate QS of cooperative members and associated processors yields an exclusive harvest privilege for PCTC Program cooperatives, which NMFS will issue as cooperative quota (CQ) each year.  Halibut and crab Prohibited Species Catch limits are also allocated annually based on the percentage of total BSAI Pacific cod CQ allocated to their cooperative. 

Pacific cod trawl harvest is apportioned by seasons: January 20-April 1 (A season), April 1-June 10 (B season), and June 10-November 1 (C season).  The PCTC Program allocates only A and B season trawl CV sector apportionments to cooperatives as CQ.  The C season apportionment remains a limited access fishery open to all trawl CVs with LLP license endorsements to harvest Pacific cod in the BS and/or AI with trawl gear. 

PCTC Participants are subject to certain sideboard limitations, which prevent holders of QS from expanding their fishing effort in GOA fisheries while still allowing cooperative members to catch up to the historical percentage of species they harvested in non-rationalized GOA groundfish fisheries.

    For the calendar year 2023, NMFS will allow each cooperative to submit the inter-cooperative agreement after the deadline for the annual cooperative application, however it must be submitted on or before December 31, 2023.