The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Alaska Sablefish Tag Program has released over 360,000 tagged sablefish in Alaska waters
since 1972 and over 33,500 of those fish have been recovered by members of the fishing industry. Data from the releases and recoveries are maintained in the Sablefish Tag Database. These data have been used to examine movement patterns, evaluate areal apportionment strategies of annual catch quota, validate ageing methods, and examine growth. The following article summarizes release and recovery data within the tag database and describes the results of studies utilizing these tag data by NMFS and others on sablefish age, growth, and migration.