Investigation of Weight Loss in Pacific Cod Due to Exsanguination

Exsanguination, or bleeding, is an important processing step at the time of capture to obtain high product quality, including freshness and the visual appearance of fillets. NOAA Fisheries is responsible for assessing fishery  catch, which is generally a round weight estimate collected prior to any processing, including exsanguination. However, longline vessels present a special situation because exsanguination is required prior to weighing, which may create a bias in round weight estimates due to lost blood weight.