2015 Assessment of the Sculpin Stock Complex in the Gulf of Alaska
February 21, 2015
Sculpin catch and retention data from the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) fisheries from 2003-2014 have been updated and partial 2015 data (as of October 23, 2015) has been added.
The methodology has changed based on recommendations presented at the September 2015 Plan Team meeting. The random effects smoothing model has been recommended as the methodology for determining the complex biomass. The proportion of each species, as determined by separate model runs for each species used to determine biomass in the species complex, was recommended to determine the proportions for biomass-weighted natural mortality, when different species in a complex are subject to different natural mortality. The total biomass estimate is a sum of the 2015 estimated species-specific biomass from the random effects smoothing model.