2019 Assessment of the Sculpin Stock Complex in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands
January 31, 2020
The Bering Sea and Aleutian Island (BSAI) sculpin complex is managed in Tier 5. The last full BSAI sculpin assessment was performed in 2016.
The estimated ABC and OFL values for 2019 and 2020 in this update are higher than the values for 2018 and 2019 produced in the 2017 assessment because the biomass estimate of sculpins on the Bering Sea shelf in 2019 were higher than the 2017 estimate (171,760 t vs. 230,291 t). The 2018 Aleutian Islands survey also provided data for this assessment but the slope survey was not conducted and those values have not changed. OFL and ABC also increased primarily because 4 of the 5 most abundant sculpin species on the shelf increased. Catch of sculpins (as bycatch) has exhibited a stable trend in the past 7 years averaging 5,184 t.