Science & Data

The primary intent of this assessment is to summarize and synthesize climate and fishing effects (historical and future) on the eastern Bering Sea shelf and slope regions from an ecosystem perspective.

The Gulf of Alaska experienced unusually warm conditions in 2019. This followed the extreme marine heatwave of 2014–2016 (known popularly as “The Blob”) and a return to more typical temperatures during 2017 and 2018.

The eastern Bering Sea experienced the second year of low sea ice conditions during winter 2018/2019 due to (1) residual heat in the Chukchi Sea in fall of 2018 and (2) anomalous winds from the south in February 2019 causing ice retreat.

The primary intent of this assessment is to summarize and synthesize climate, biological, and fishing effects on the shelf and slope regions of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) from an ecosystem perspective and to provide where possible an assessment of the...

The primary intent of this assessment is to summarize and synthesize climate and fishing effects (historical and future) on the eastern Bering Sea shelf and slope regions from an ecosystem perspective.

"Flathead sole" as currently managed by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) represents a two-species complex consisting of true flathead sole (Hippoglossoides elassodon) and...

The Gulf of Alaska flathead sole stock is assessed every four years and was last assessed in 2017. In years without a full assessment, we present an executive summary to recommend harvest levels for the next two years.

"Flathead sole" as currently managed by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) represents a two-species complex consisting of true flathead sole (Hippoglossoides elassodon) and its morphologically-similar congener Bering flounder (H. robustus).

The Gulf of Alaska flathead sole stock is assessed every four years and was last assessed in 2017. In years without a full assessment, we present an executive summary to recommend harvest levels for the next two years. Please refer to the 2017 full stock assessment report for further information regarding the assessment model. A full stock assessment document with updated assessment and projection model results will be presented in 2021.

"Flathead sole" as currently managed by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) represents a two-species complex consisting of true flathead sole (Hippoglossoides elassodon) and its morphologically-similar congener Bering f lounder (H. robustus). "Flathead sole" was formerly a constituent of the "other flatfish" SAFE chapter. Based on changes in the directed fishing standards to allow increased retention of flatfish, in June 1994 the Council requested the BSAI Plan Team to assign a separate Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC) and Overfishing Limit (OFL) to "flathead sole" in the BSAI, rather than combining them into the "other flatfish" recommendations as in previous assessments. Subsequent to this request, stock assessments for "flathead sole" have been generated annually to provide updated recommendations for ABC and OFL.