2014 Assessment of the Other Rockfish Stock Complex in the Gulf of Alaska
April 09, 2014
Rockfish are assessed on a biennial stock assessment schedule to coincide with the availability of new trawl survey data. For Gulf of Alaska (GOA) rockfish in alternate (even) years we present an executive summary to recommend harvest levels for the next two years.
We average the biomass estimates from the three most recent Gulf of Alaska (GOA) trawl surveys to estimate exploitable biomass and determine the recommended ABC for the Other Rockfish stock complex. This complex consists of 25 species of rockfish, as defined in Tribuzio and Echave (2012). This complex is classified as a Tier 5 stock, with the exception of sharpchin rockfish, which qualifies as a Tier 4 stock. The complex ABC and OFL are based on the sum of the Tier 4 and Tier 5 calculations for the individual species. For an off-cycle year, there is no new survey information for the Other Rockfish stock complex; therefore, the 2013 estimates are used in 2014.