NOAA Fisheries is reminding participants in the Individual Fishing Quota program of key end-of-year deadlines, system maintenance restrictions and quota details for the 2026 fishing year, including changes affecting several grouper and snapper categories.

The agency will shut down the Catch Shares Online System for scheduled maintenance at 6 p.m. EST on Dec. 31. Online IFQ functions will resume at 2 p.m. EST on Jan. 1, 2026. All electronic transactions for the 2025 fishing year must be completed before the shutdown.

During the 20-hour maintenance window, fishermen may still submit a three-hour advanced notice of landing through a vessel monitoring system or by calling the 24-hour call service at (866) 425-7627 and selecting option 1. Only landings completed before 6 p.m. EST on Dec. 31 will count toward 2025 allocations.

NOAA Fisheries also reminded participants that all share transfers must be completed before the system goes offline. Transfers initiated but not accepted before the shutdown will be canceled, and the shares will remain in the transferor’s account.

Any unused allocation remaining in shareholder or vessel accounts at 6 p.m. EST on Dec. 31, 2025, will expire and be removed from the system.

To complete landings, sufficient allocation must be available when a three-hour pre-landing notification is submitted, either in a vessel account or associated shareholder account. At the time a dealer submits a landing transaction, sufficient allocation must be available in the vessel account.

The 2026 allocation will be issued to shareholder accounts on Jan. 1, 2026. To harvest IFQ species, fishermen must transfer allocation from their shareholder account to their vessel account before completing a landing transaction. Allocation transfers to another shareholder’s vessel account should be completed using the vessel’s Coast Guard documentation number or state registration number to ensure accuracy. Transfers are completed upon submission, and NOAA Fisheries cannot reverse an incorrect transfer without the consent of both parties.

2026 IFQ QUOTAS

NOAA Fisheries announced the following commercial quotas for the 2026 fishing year, measured in pounds gutted weight:

Deep-water grouper: 478,424

Gag grouper: 255,000

Other shallow-water grouper: 245,410

Red grouper: 2,790,000

Red snapper: 7,493,784

Tilefish: 582,000

A portion of the deep-water grouper and other shallow-water grouper quotas will be withheld at the start of the year because reductions approved earlier by the regional fishery management council are expected to take effect later in 2026. If those reductions are not finalized and effective by June 1, 2026, NOAA Fisheries will distribute the withheld allocation to current shareholders.

The red grouper quota reflects the expiration of a 2025 emergency rule that temporarily increased catch limits. That rule ends Dec. 31, 2025, and cannot be extended. The council is working on a longer-term adjustment through Amendment 62 to the Reef Fish Fishery Management Plan. Any additional quota approved through that process would be released to shareholders after rulemaking is completed.

MULTI-USE ALLOCATIONS

Multi-use allocation percentages for gag and red grouper are recalculated annually based on catch limits and rebuilding requirements. Because gag remains under a rebuilding plan, regulations require the red grouper multi-use allocation to be set at zero.

For 2026, red grouper multi-use allocation will be 0% of total red grouper allocation, while gag multi-use allocation will be 58.80% of total gag allocation.

ACCOUNT SECURITY AND PIN REQUIREMENTS

The Catch Shares Online System uses multiple personal identification numbers to protect accounts. Shareholder, vessel and dealer account PINs expire every six months. The vessel signature PIN, used to confirm dealer landing transactions and entered by the vessel owner or captain, does not expire. NOAA Fisheries advised that PINs should not be shared beyond authorized account entities.

PINs can be updated by logging into the appropriate account, selecting “Account” from the header menu and choosing “Update Account.”

VMS REMINDERS

When submitting a three-hour pre-landing notification using a vessel monitoring system, fishermen must enter the correct numeric codes for both the landing location and the IFQ dealer. Approved landing locations and dealer codes are listed on the Catch Shares Online System home page at www.fisheries.noaa.gov.

For information specific to the Southeast Vessel Monitoring Program, participants may contact NOAA Office of Law Enforcement VMS staff at (727) 314-2862 or (800) 758-4833.