The demersal shelf rockfish complex (yelloweye, quillback, copper, rosethorn, China, canary, and tiger rockfish) is a Tier 4 complex and assessed on a biennial cycle. A full stock assessment is typically conducted every second year.
The Gulf of Alaska deepwater flatfish complex is assessed every four years and was last assessed in 2019.
In years without an assessment, we present an executive summary to recommend harvest levels for the
next two years.
In accordance with the approved schedule, no assessment was conducted for this stock this year, a full stock assessment will be conducted in 2023. The values generated from the previous stock assessment will be rolled over for 2023 specifications.
The scheduled frequency for some stock assessments was recently changed in response to the National Stock Assessment Prioritization effort. In previous years, all Gulf of Alaska rockfish stocks were assessed on a biennial stock assessment schedule.
Sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) inhabit the northeastern Pacific Ocean from northern Mexico to the Gulf of Alaska, westward to the Aleutian Islands, and into the Bering Sea.
Yellowfin Sole (Limanda aspera) is one of the most abundant flatfish species in the eastern Bering Sea and currently is the target of the largest flatfish fishery in the world.
The Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) skate complex is managed in aggregate, with a single set of harvest specifications applied to the entire complex. However, to generate the harvest recommendations the stock is divided into two units.
Shortraker rockfish (Sebastes borealis) are distributed along the continental slope in the north Pacific from Point Conception in southern California to Japan, and are commonly found between eastern Kamchatka and British Columbia.
The shark complex (Pacific sleeper shark, spiny dogfish, salmon shark, and other/unidentified sharks) in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands is assessed on a biennial stock assessment schedule. In even years we present a full stock assessment.
Walleye pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus) are broadly distributed throughout the North Pacific with the largest concentrations found in the Eastern Bering Sea.