Publications

In-depth profiles of the 196 Alaska communities most involved in Alaskan and North Pacific fisheries.

Reports summarizing costs directly related to management of the Aleutian Islands Pollock fishery subject to cost recovery.

Annual reviews of cost recovery and fee payments in Alaska for the American Fisheries Act (AFA) Pollock Program.

Analysis of modifications to allocations of pollock and cod to allow fisheries to more fully harvest TAC and potentially decrease prohibited species catch. The modifications would not re-distribute allocations between management areas or harvest sectors.

The eastern Bering Sea was characterized by anomalously warm conditions in 2018. Over the northern shelf, an unprecedented near-complete lack of sea ice occurred; the southeastern shelf had no sea ice and no cold pool (footprint of winter sea ice persisting as cold bottom water the following summer, less than

The base model projection of female spawning biomass in 2019 is 345,352 t, which is 62.4% of unfished spawning biomass (based on average post-1977 recruitment) and above B40% (221,000 t), thereby placing GOA pollock in sub-tier “a” of Tier 3. New survey data in 2018 are highly contrasting, with the 2018 Shelikof Strait acoustic survey indicating high biomass, and the ADFG trawl survey indicating relatively low biomass (though increased from the previous two years). The risk matrix table recommended by the SSC was used to determine whether to recommend an ABC lower than the maximum permissible. The table is applied by evaluating the severity of three types of considerations that could be used to support a scientific recommendation to reduce the ABC from the maximum permissible. We identified substantially increased concerns for the stock assessment, the population dynamics of pollock, and environmental/ecosystem factors that are likely to affect pollock.

Outreach product containing highlights and preliminary findings for 2018 Arctic research surveys.

A genetic analysis of the prohibited species catch (PSC) of chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) collected during 2016 from the federally managed walleye pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus) trawl fishery in the Bering Sea and from the federal groundfish fisheries in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) was undertaken to determine the overall stock composition of the sample sets. Samples were genotyped for 11 microsatellite markers from which stock contributions were estimated using the current chum salmon microsatellite baseline. In 2016, one genetic sample was collected for every 30.6 chum salmon caught in the Bering Sea midwater trawl fishery. The evaluation of sampling in the Bering Sea based on time, location, and vessel indicated that the genetic samples were representative of the total chum salmon PSC in the Bering Sea. The majority of the 114 chum salmon samples from the A-season were from Northeast Asia (37%) and Eastern GOA/Pacific Northwest (PNW) (37%) stocks. Based on the analysis of 2,701 chum salmon collected throughout the B-season, the largest stock groups in the catch were Eastern GOA/PNW (35%) and Northeast Asia (31%), followed by Western Alaska (19%), Southeast Asia (9%), Upper/Middle Yukon (5%), and Southwest Alaska (< 2%) stocks. The chum salmon caught in the Bering Sea in 2016 shared general patterns of stock distribution with those from past years, but differed by some finer-scale spatiotemporal strata. Of the 473 chum salmon samples from the GOA groundfish fisheries, the highest proportion was from Eastern GOA/PNW (93%) stocks, similar to previous years.

This Environmental Assessment analyzes alternatives on issuance of an exempted fishing permit for continued testing of a salmon excluder device in the Bering Sea pollock trawl fishery.

This environmental impact statement provides an evaluation of the environmental, social, and economic effects of alternatives to the Steller sea lion protection measures for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area, in particular the Atka mackerel, Pacific cod, and pollock fisheries in the Aleutian Islands.