Under the IFQ Halibut/Sablefish Permit Program and CDQ Halibut Permit Program permits are issued for harvesting and receiving/processing halibut, and non-trawl sablefish.

For IFQ Halibut/Sablefish Permits, owners of vessels with specific historical participation in non-trawl halibut and sablfish fisheries were issued Quota Share (QS). Quota share was initially issued to persons who owned or leased vessels that made legal commercial fixed-gear landings of Pacific halibut or sablefish during 1988-1990 off Alaska. QS is transferable to other initial issuees or to those who have become transferable eligible on NMFS' approval of an Application for Transfer Eligibility Certificate. Once issued to a person (at no charge), QS is held by that person until it is transferred, suspended, or revoked. QS permits are authorized at 50 CFR Part 679.4(d).

Quota Share holders are entitled to a proportional share of the annual Total Allowable Catch allocated to the IFQ Program. An IFQ permit authorizes participation in fixed-gear harvests of Pacific halibut off Alaska, and most sablefish fisheries off Alaska. The permits are not specific to vessels. Permits are issued annually, at no charge, to persons holding fishable Pacific halibut and sablefish Quota Share (QS); or to those who are recipients of IFQ-only transfers from QS holders. Authorized pounds for annual IFQ permits are determined by the number of QS units held, the total number of QS units in the "pool" for a species and area, and the total amount of halibut or sablefish allocated for IFQ fisheries in a particular year. IFQ permits are authorized at 50 CFR Part 679.4(d).

The Western Alaska Community Development Quota (CDQ) Program allocates a percentage of all Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands quotas for groundfish, prohibited species, halibut, and crab to eligible communities. A CDQ permit is required to harvest CDQ halibut. Permits are issued annually and without charge to CDQ groups with approved CDQ plans and directed fishing allocations of halibut.