"Alaska Groundfish Research"

The commercial groundfish fishery off Alaska catch totaled 2.2 million tons (t) in 2013 (this total includes catch in federal and state waters). This amount was up 2.3% from 2012, and was roughly four times larger than the combined catch of Alaska’s other commercial domestic species (Fig. 1 and Table 1). Despite the increased groundfish catch in 2013, the 4:1 ratio to other species was less than typical because of the substantial 65% increase in Pacific salmon catch (Table 1A). The groundfish fishery off Alaska is an important segment of the U.S. fishing industry. In 2012 it accounted for 48% of the weight of total U.S. domestic landings (Fisheries of the United States, 2012).

The goal of the Ecosystem Considerations report is to provide stronger links between ecosystem research and fishery management and to spur new understanding of the connections between ecosystem components by bringing together many diverse research efforts into one document. There are three main sections: • Executive Summary • Ecosystem Assessment • Ecosystem Status and Management Indicators The purpose of the first section, the Executive Summary, is to provide a consise summary of the status of marine ecosystems in Alaska for stock assessment scientists, fishery managers, and the public. Time series of indicators are presented in figures formatted similarly to enable comparisons across indicators. Recent trends in climate and the physical environment, ecosystems, and fishing and fisheries are highlighted in bulleted lists. The purpose of the second section, the Ecosystem Assessment, is to synthesize historical climate and fishing effects on the eastern Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska ecosystems using information from the Ecosystem Status and Management Indicators section and stock assessment reports. Notable trends, “hot topics”, that capture unique occurrences, changes in trend direction, or patterns across indicators are highlighted at the beginning. An ongoing goal is to produce ecosystem assessments utilizing a blend of data analysis and modeling to clearly communicate the current status and possible future directions of ecosystems. In future drafts, the Ecosystem Assessment section will also provide an assessment of the possible future effects of climate and fishing on ecosystem structure and function.

Gulf of Alaska (GOA) thornyheads are assessed on a biennial stock assessment schedule to coincide with the availability of new survey data. For GOA thornyheads in on-cycle (odd) years, we present a full stock assessment document with updated assessment results to recommend harvest levels for the next two years. However, due to the 2013 government shutdown, we present an executive summary with updated survey biomass estimates and recommended harvest levels. Please refer to the last full stock assessment report presented in 2011 for further information regarding the assessment calculations (Murphy and Ianelli 2011, available online at http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/refm/docs/2011/GOAthorny.pdf). A full stock assessment document with updated assessment results will be presented in next year’s SAFE report. We use the exploitable biomass from the most recent trawl survey to determine the recommended ABC for thornyhead rockfish, which qualifies as a Tier 5 stock. For this update year, we use the same extrapolation method (Alternative 2) from the 2011 assessment applied to the 2013 survey biomass estimate to provide estimates for the next two years.

Squids in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) are managed as a single stock complex comprising approximately 15 species. Harvest recommendations are based on an historical catch approach setting OFL equal to maximum historical catch during 1997 - 2007 and ABC equal to 0.75 * OFL. Gulf of Alaska squids are normally on a biennial stock assessment schedule, with full assessments due in odd years. In 2013 however, the shutdown of the federal government limited the amount of time to prepare assessments and the author was requested to do only an executive summary similar to an “off-year” assessment. The full assessment from 2011 is available online (www.afsc.noaa.gov/REFM/docs/2011/GOAsquid.pdf).

Rockfish are assessed on a biennial stock assessment schedule to coincide with the availability of new survey data. For Gulf of Alaska rockfish in alternate (odd) years we present a full stock assessment to recommend harvest levels for the next two years. However, due to the 2013 government shutdown, we present an executive summary with updated survey biomass estimates and recommended ABC. Please refer to the last full stock assessment report presented in 2011 for further information regarding the assessment calculations (Clausen and Echave 2011, available online at http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/refm/docs/2011/GOAshortraker.pdf). A full stock assessment document with updated assessment results will be presented in next year’s SAFE report.

The shark complex (spiny dogfish, Pacific sleeper shark, salmon shark and other/unidentified sharks) in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) is assessed on a biennial stock assessment schedule. However, for the 2013 assessment cycle, which would normally be a full assessment, a summary assessment is presented due to government shutdown and the abbreviated working period. GOA sharks are a Tier 6 complex, however, the ABC and OFL for spiny dogfish is calculated using a Tier 5 approach with the survey biomass estimates considered a minimum estimate of biomass. The complex OFL is based on the sum of the Tier 5 and Tier 6 (average historical catch between the years 1997 - 2007) recommendations for the individual species (ABC is 75% of OFL). For this summary, we have updated the time series of catch through Oct 24, 2013 to reflect any changes that might have occurred in the Catch Accounting System (for the years 2003 – 2013). For further information regarding the assessment, please refer to last year’s full stock assessment, which is available online (Tribuzio et al. 2011, http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/REFM/docs/2011/GOAshark.pdf). A full stock assessment document will be presented in next year’s SAFE report.

The Gulf of Alaska skate complex is managed as three units. Big skates and longnose skateseach have separate harvest specifications, with acceptable biological catches (ABCs) specified for each GOA regulatory area (western, central, and eastern).

Assessment for the shallow water flatfish complex has been moved to a biennial schedule to coincide with the expected receipt of new survey data. Usually, on alternate (even) years we will present an executive summary with last year’s key assessment parameters and projections for this year. However, due to the Federal government shutdown and furlough of federal employees from October 1-17, only an updated executive summary is presented here. A discussion at the September 2006 Groundfish Plan Team meetings concluded the following two important points for updating information in off-year assessments: 1) Anytime the assessment model is re-run and presented in the SAFE Report, a full assessment document must be produced. 2) The single-species projection model may be re-run using new catch data without re-running the assessment model.

The Gulf of Alaska sculpin complex has been managed as an independent complex with its own harvest specifications since 2010, when the North Pacific Fishery Management Council passed Amendment 87 to the GOA Fishery Management Plan.

Rockfish are assessed on a biennial stock assessment schedule to coincide with the availability of new survey data. For Gulf of Alaska rockfish in on-cycle (odd) years, we present a full stock assessment document with updated assessment and projection model results to recommend harvest levels for the next two years. However, due to the 2013 government shutdown, we present an executive summary similar to an off-cycle year for Gulf of Alaska rougheye and blackspotted (RE/BS) rockfish. There was a large amount of new and updated data available for this stock complex (not just the most recent year) and there was not sufficient time for performing model evaluation and sensitivity analyses of this information. We present a short discussion of this new or updated data anticipated for the next full assessment in the Research Priorities section at the end of this document. Please refer to the last full stock assessment report presented in 2011 for further information regarding the assessment model (Shotwell et al., 2011, available online at http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/REFM/docs/2011/GOArougheye.pdf). A full stock assessment document with updated assessment and projection model results will be presented in next year’s SAFE report.