Groundfish Assessment Program

The Groundfish Assessment Program regularly conducts bottom trawl surveys to assess the condition of groundfish and shellfish stocks in Alaskan marine waters. Key fish species include: walleye "Alaska" pollock, Pacific cod, arrowtooth flounder, yellowfin sole, and rock sole.

These surveys are conducted to establish the distribution and abundance of Alaska groundfish resources in the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea Shelf, Bering Sea Slope, and Aleutian Islands. Surveys, various tools, and models are used by the program to help further understand fish and crab habitat use.

The Groundfish Assessment Program also investigates biological interactions with the environment to estimate growth, mortality, and recruitment to improve the precision and accuracy of forecasting future stocks.