The National Standard Guidelines for Fishery Management Plans published by NOAA Fisheries require that a stock assessment and fishery evaluation report be prepared and reviewed annually for each fishery management plan.
The Gulf of Alaska thornyhead complex remain on a biennial stock assessment schedule with a full stock assessment produced in even years and no stock assessment produced in odd years.
The shark complex (spiny dogfish, Pacific sleeper shark, salmon shark and other/unidentified sharks) in the Gulf of Alaska is assessed on a biennial stock assessment schedule.
The shallow-water flatfish stock complex in the Gulf of Alaska includes Alaska plaice, butter sole, English sole, sand sole, starry flounder, yellowfin sole, northern rock sole, and southern rock sole.
All Gulf of Alaska rockfish stocks are assessed on a biennial stock assessment schedule to coincide with the availability of new survey data and in accordance with the National Stock Assessment Prioritization effort.
Walleye pollock is a semi-pelagic schooling fish widely distributed in the North Pacific Ocean. Pollock in the central and western Gulf of Alaska are managed as a single stock independently of pollock in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands.