"Arrowtooth Flounder"

The Gulf of Alaska arrowtooth flounder stock is assessed on a biennial basis to coincide with the annual GOA groundfish trawl survey. These surveys occur in odd years, and for these years a full assessment of arrowtooth flounder in the GOA area is conducted. On even years, parameter values from the previous year’s assessment model (Spies and Turnock 2013) and total catch information for the current and previous year are used to make projections and to recommend ABC and OFL for the following two years.

Arrowtooth flounder (Atheresthes stomias) is a relatively large flatfish that is found throughout the BSAI management area. Their abundance is approximately six times higher in the eastern Bering Sea than in the Aleutian Islands region. Spawning occurs in deep water in the Gulf of Alaska and along the shelf break in the eastern Bering Sea. Spawning females have been found at 400m and males at ≥450m in the Gulf of Alaska, and larvae have been found at depths greater than 200 m (Blood et al. 2007; De Forest et al. 2014). The distribution of ages appears to vary by region and sex; male arrowtooth as old as 36 years have been observed in the Aleutian Islands are not commonly observed older than age 10 on the Bering Sea shelf, while the female length and weight relationships do not vary significantly between the two regions (Figure 6.1)