Status of Stocks and Multispecies Assessment Program: 2001
Stock Assessment Summary
The Status of Stocks and Multispecies Assessment Program (SSMA)
completed stock assessments for major groundfish
stocks in the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands region,
and Gulf of Alaska. Information from a variety
of sources was used, including survey biomass
estimates provided by the Resource Assessment and
Conservation Engineering (RACE) Division, fishery
catch estimates from the NMFS Alaska Regional
Office, fishery-dependent biological samples from
the REFM Observer Program, and fishery and survey
age composition data from the REFM Age and Growth
Program. Final Stock Assessment and Fishery
Evaluation (SAFE) reports were prepared for the
North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC).
The NPFMC used the assessments to recommend
levels of Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC) for the
2002 fishing seasons.
Scientists from the SSMA Program
participated in preparation of many of the
assessment chapters for the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) and
Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands (BSAI) regions.
Scientists from the Auke Bay Laboratory, the
RACE Division, and the Alaska Department of Fish and
Game (ADF&G) also authored or contributed to the
development of the SAFE chapters.
In 2001, 14 stocks or stock complexes in the BSAI
were assessed: walleye pollock, Pacific cod,
yellowfin sole, Greenland turbot, rock sole,
flathead sole, arrowtooth flounder, other flatfish
(includes 16 species of flatfish), BSAI Pacific
ocean perch, other red rockfish, other rockfish,
sablefish, Atka mackerel, and “other species”
(see Table 1 below for species included in stock
complexes). With the exception of sablefish,
SSMA stock assessment authors were lead
authors for all BSAI assessments. In the
Gulf of Alaska, ten stocks or stock complexes were
assessed: walleye pollock, Pacific cod,
arrowtooth flounder, other flatfish, Pelagic shelf
rockfish, slope rockfish, demersal shelf rockfish,
thornyhead, sablefish, and Atka mackerel. SSMA
assessment authors were the primary authors on six
out of the ten GOA assessment chapters. Major
findings for selected assessments are summarized
below, grouped by management area and species.
Table
1. Species categories established for
management of the Bering Sea/Aleutian
Islands groundfish fishery. A
nonspecified species category is also
established to cover all species not listed
below. |
Prohibited
Species a |
Target
Species b |
Other
Species c |
Forage
Fish |
FINFISHES |
|
|
|
Salmon |
Walleye
pollock |
Sculpins |
Eulachon |
Pacific
halibut |
Pacific cod |
Sharks |
Capelin |
Pacific
herring |
Yellowfin
sole |
Skates |
Sandlance |
Steelhead
trout |
Greenland
turbot |
Smelt |
Myctophids |
|
Arrowtooth
flounder |
|
Bathylagids |
|
Rock sole |
|
Sandfish |
|
Flathead
sole |
|
Pholids |
|
Other
flatfish |
|
Stichaeids |
|
Sablefish |
|
Gonostomatids |
|
Pacific
ocean perch |
|
|
|
Other red
rockfish |
|
|
|
Other
rockfish |
|
|
|
Atka
mackerel |
|
|
INVERTEBRATES |
|
|
|
King
crab |
Squid |
Octopus |
Tanner crab |
a
Species which must be returned to the sea
when caught.
b Species
for which an individual TAC is established.
c Species
for which an aggregate TAC is established.
|
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