|
Age and Growth Program |
Estimated production figures for the 1 January to 31 December 2001. |
Flathead sole |
906 |
Northern rock sole |
1,376 |
Southern rock sole |
223 |
Yellowfin sole |
1,487 |
Walleye pollock |
14,996 |
Sablefish |
3,829 |
Atka mackerel |
1,989 |
Pacific whiting |
2,704 |
Pacific ocean perch |
1,848 |
Northern rockfish |
2,200 |
Light dusky rockfish |
186 |
Total production figures were 31,744 with 6,785 test ages, and 234
examined and determined to be unageable. |
|
Atka Mackerel Tag Recovery
The fishing vessel Seafisher was chartered 10-19 November
2001 for recovering tagged Atka mackerel in the Seguam Pass area of the
Aleutian Islands, Alaska. The cruise represents the third
consecutive year of work by the AFSC on Atka mackerel in Seguam Pass and
is part of an ongoing study to determine the efficacy of trawl exclusion
zones to maintain prey availability for endangered Steller sea lions.
Trawl exclusion zones were established around sea lion rookeries
as a precautionary measure to protect critical sea lion habitat,
including local populations of prey such as Atka mackerel. Localized
fishing may affect Atka mackerel abundance and distribution near sea
lion rookeries. Tagging experiments are being used to estimate
abundance and movement between areas open and closed to the Atka
mackerel fishery. Recovery of tagged fish is supplied by the
fishery in the open area outside the trawl exclusion zone. Recoveries
in the closed area are provided by chartered recovery cruises such as
the Seafisher cruise in November.
The primary objective of the charter was to examine 750 t of Atka
mackerel collected from, in, and around the trawl exclusion zones at
Seguam Pass for tags. Standard fishery observer catch estimation,
species composition, and Atka mackerel length sampling procedures were
used. In addition, the recovery rate of tags aboard the vessel was
estimated. This involved tagging twenty Atka mackerel on deck and
placing them randomly into the catch of each haul. Recovery of
these “seeded” tagged fish enables calculation of a recovery rate of
tagged fish within the factory which can then be applied to the tagged
fish recovered from the ocean. A total of ten Atka mackerel that
had been tagged and released in previous AFSC cruises were found. All
of the fish had been tagged in 2001. Several biological sampling
projects were also carried out. Atka mackerel otoliths were
collected on nearly all of the 51 hauls. In addition, stomachs
from Atka mackerel, Pacific cod, halibut, and arrowtooth flounder were
collected. Finally, whole fish of a variety of species (Atka
mackerel, northern rockfish, walleye pollock, rock sole and skates) were
frozen for proximate analysis (caloric content).
By Libby Logerwell.
Resource Ecology and Ecosystem Modeling Program
Fish stomachs collected totaled 1,076 from the eastern Bering Sea
and 254 from the Gulf of Alaska. Laboratory analysis was performed on
1,865 groundfish stomachs from the eastern Bering Sea, 1,304 from the
Gulf of Alaska, and 627 from the Washington-Oregon-California region.
A total of 17 observers returned groundfish stomach samples during
the quarter.
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quarterly Oct-Dec 2001 sidebar
AFSC Quarterly
Research Reports
Oct-Dec 2001
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