Overfished Determination for Quillback Rockfish

Quillback rockfish are slow-growing, long-lived fish that can live to be more than 90 years old and are highly vulnerable to the effects of fishing. Until 2022, they had not been managed to the species level; they had been managed collectively with other nearshore rockfish species. A stock assessment in 2021 found that the quillback rockfish stock off the coast of California is below the minimum stock size threshold. Therefore, on December 14, 2023, NOAA Fisheries notified the Pacific Fishery Management Council that the stock is overfished. When the Council is notified a stock is overfished, the Council must develop a rebuilding plan for the stock. We know from experience that this is an effective strategy to achieve long-term sustainable fisheries. A rebuilding plan for quillback must be implemented before the end of 2025.

How and why was quillback rockfish off California defined as its own stock?

The Pacific Fishery Management Council recommended, and on November 13, 2023, NOAA Fisheries approved, stock definitions for 14 species in the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan. By defining stocks in need of conservation and management, NOAA Fisheries can determine their abundance and productivity, based on the best scientific information available, and advise the Council to manage those stocks accordingly. The information used to determine stock boundaries included genetic and tagging studies, studies of larval dispersal, and other biological and life history information from this species or other ecologically similar species. From this information, it was clear that the species has some level of geospatial population structure that warranted a stock definition at a smaller scale than coastwide. Having these stocks defined clears the way for NOAA Fisheries to complete status determinations from 2021 and 2023 stock assessments.

This status determination is being made using a data moderate stock assessment, why is this type of stock assessment appropriate for this determination?

All of our stock assessments exist on a continuum of data availability. The Pacific Fishery Management Council's Science and Statistical Committee has on occasion recommended that an assessment not be used to inform either overfished status or to inform setting an overfishing limit. After reviewing the 2021 stock assessment of quillback rockfish in California waters, the Committee chose not to include either of these limitations when it recommended the assessment as the best scientific information available. NOAA Fisheries also certified the assessment as the best scientific information available, appropriate for use in status determinations.

What type of data was used in the assessment?

The stock assessment conducted on quillback rockfish off California in 2021 was a length-based data-moderate assessment. At the time of assessment there was very limited age data collected in California waters available, which means this stock was not a candidate for a more robust data-rich assessment. The quillback rockfish assessment relied heavily on length data from groundfish fisheries off of California. This assessment approach was reviewed and approved by the Pacific Fishery Management Council's Science and Statistical Committee for this round of assessments in 2020.

We also recognize that addressing nearshore data needs and expanding data collection efforts could reduce uncertainty in future assessments for nearshore stocks, like quillback rockfish.

We are committed to taking a comprehensive look at nearshore data needs for the next assessment and will collaborate to find ways to provide as many fishing opportunities as possible.

What is being done to improve data collection efforts for future assessments?

NOAA Fisheries, in partnership with the Pacific Fishery Management Council and California Department of Fish and Wildlife, is evaluating potential expansions of fishery-independent and fishery-dependent data collections in the areas where quillback rockfish and other nearshore rockfish are found. For example, data collections in fall of 2023 and during the groundfish spawning season will collect key biological data on age, genetics, maturity, and fecundity.

Beginning in 2023, NOAA Fisheries began requiring all vessels in the non-trawl sectors to complete an electronic logbook for all groundfish fishing trips. This requirement will provide spatial location on catch of species, like quillback rockfish, that must be discarded. Spatial discard information can inform smaller-scale management responses.

NOAA Fisheries is evaluating capitalizing on existing fishery-dependent data collections to gather more scientific information on quillback rockfish through observer coverage focused sampling and through exempted fishing permit recreational vessel sampling in partnership with California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

NOAA Fisheries will continue to work with the State of California on consideration of a possible expansion of existing hook and line surveys.

How was the 2021 stock assessment reviewed?

The 2021 stock assessment of quillback rockfish off California was reviewed and approved by the Science and Statistical Committee's Groundfish Subcommittee in June 2021, and then reviewed and approved as best scientific information available by the Committee in June 2021. The Council requested additional reviews, the Groundfish Subcommittee reviewed additional information and again approved the assessment in August and September 2021, as did the Committe in September and November 2021. The Council adopted the stock assessment in November 2021. NOAA Fisheries certified the assessment as best scientific information available for use in management and stock status determinations in December 2021. The 2023–2024 harvest specifications and management measures use the information from this assessment.

Recent harvests of quillback rockfish off California have seemed high for a depleted stock. Is this unusual?

Recent catch of quillback rockfish has been estimated to represent a sizeable proportion of the biomass of the stock. A review of other previously-depleted stocks indicates that this pattern has been observed in other stocks, including cowcod, copper rockfish, bocaccio, and yelloweye rockfish. Additionally, harvest of quillback rockfish has exceeded the species-specific best estimates of sustainable harvest levels for over a decade, but was not subject to overfishing because the stock is managed in a stock complex consisting of multiple species. Collectively, the harvest of the stock complex has generally been below the annual catch limit and never subject to overfishing during that time.

What does this status determination mean for the fishery?

The biennial harvest management specifications structure for groundfish necessitates the front-loading of the rebuilding analysis. Under the rebuilding clock, the rebuilding plan would likely not be legally required to be implemented for 2 years. However, moving ahead with 2025–2026 specifications and management measures without the requisite rebuilding plan would make the specifications challenging to approve. Quillback rockfish is co-occurring with many other groundfish targets. In order to meet the terms of a rebuilding plan, restricted management measures in several groundfish sectors, and for other co-occurring species, will be necessary.