Fishermen can now catch a type of thornyhead fish across the entire US West Coast

US fisheries regulators changed how they count a specific type of thornyhead fish. Fishermen can now catch these fish across the entire West Coast, instead of being limited to northern or southern zones.

Before this change, fishermen had separate quotas for shortspine thornyheads caught north and south of a specific latitude. This meant they might hit their limit in one area while still having quota left in another, forcing them to stop fishing. Now, they have a single coastwide limit, which makes fishing operations more flexible and efficient.