2015 Assessment of Other Rockfish Complex in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands
February 08, 2015
The Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands (BSAI) Other rockfish complex includes all species of Sebastes and Sebastolobus, except for Pacific ocean perch (POP, Sebastes alutus), northern rockfish (Sebastes polyspinis), dark rockfish (Sebastes ciliatus), rougheye rockfish (Sebastes aleutianus), blackspotted rockfish (Sebastes melanostictus) and shortraker rockfish (Sebastes borealis). The seven most abundant species in this complex are shortspine thornyhead; Sebastolobus alascanus, dusky rockfish; Sebastes variabilis, redbanded rockfish; Sebastes babcocki, redstripe rockfish; Sebastes proriger, yelloweye rockfish; Sebastes ruberrimus, harlequin rockfish; Sebastes variegatus, and sharpchin rockfish; Sebastes zacentrus. Many of the species in the genus Sebastes are relatively uncommon; and different species may be represented in different years. The two most abundant species in the Other Rockfish complex are dusky rockfish and shortspine thornyheads (SST).
In 2005, the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands (BSAI) other rockfish complex was moved to a biennial assessment schedule to coincide with the frequency of trawl surveys in the Aleutian Islands (AI) and the eastern Bering Sea (EBS) slope.