2013 Assessment of the Shark Stock Complex in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands

April 23, 2013

The shark complex (Pacific sleeper shark, spiny dogfish, salmon shark and other/unidentified sharks) in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) is assessed on a biennial stock assessment schedule. BSAI sharks are a Tier 6 complex with the OFL based on maximum historical catch between the years 1997 – 2007 (ABC is 75% of OFL). For this off-year 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). Any changes in historical catch did not result in new estimates of maximum historical catch during 1997 – 2007 and thus did not change the proposed ABC/OFL. For further information regarding the assessment, please refer to last year’s full stock assessment, which is available online (Tribuzio et al. 2012, http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/REFM/Docs/2012/BSAIshark.pdf). A full stock assessment document with updated survey and catch estimates will be presented in next year’s SAFE report.