2018 Assessment of the Yellowfin Sole Stock in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands
January 29, 2019
The yellowfin sole (Limanda aspera) is one of the most abundant flatfish species in the eastern Bering Sea (EBS) and currently is the target of the largest flatfish fishery in the world. They inhabit the EBS shelf and are considered one stock. Abundance in the Aleutian Islands region is negligible.
Yellowfin sole are distributed in North American waters from off British Columbia, Canada, (approx. lat. 49o N) to the Chukchi Sea (about lat. 70o N) and south along the Asian coast off the South Korean coast in the Sea of Japan (to about lat. 35o N). Adults exhibit a benthic lifestyle and occupy separate winter, spawning and summertime feeding distributions on the eastern Bering Sea shelf. From over-winter grounds near the shelf margins, adults begin a migration onto the inner shelf in April or early May each year for spawning and feeding. The directed fishery historically occurred from winter through autumn (Wilderbuer et al. 1992). Yellowfin sole are managed as a single stock in the Bering Sea - Aleutian Island management area as there is presently no evidence of stock structure.