NOAA Confirms Eleven Million Dollar Fishing Business Size Limit
Published Date: 11/24/2025
Notice
Summary
The National Marine Fisheries Service reviewed its $11 million small business size limit for commercial fishing and decided to keep it the same. This means fishing businesses making up to $11 million a year still count as small for certain government rules. No changes or extra costs are coming, so fishing companies can keep sailing smoothly under the current rules.
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
$11M Size Standard Kept
NMFS reviewed and will keep the small business size standard of $11,000,000 in annual gross receipts for businesses primarily engaged in commercial fishing (NAICS 11411). This means commercial fishing businesses making up to $11 million a year continue to be counted as "small" for NMFS Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) analyses; under this standard NMFS reports 16,367 entities would be classified as small and 7 as large.
Who This $11M Standard Applies To
The $11 million standard applies only for NMFS Regulatory Flexibility Act purposes to businesses primarily engaged in commercial fishing (NAICS 11411) and is used in place of certain SBA standards for NMFS rules after July 1, 2016. The standard does not apply to businesses primarily engaged in seafood processing (NAICS 311170), seafood wholesale (NAICS 424460), or other non-fishing seafood activities.
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