Diel epipelagic sampling for juvenile Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.), rockfish (Sebastes spp.), sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria), and associated species was conducted in order to identify factors that may affect year-class success of these commercially important species. Sampling occurred in offshore marine habitats of the coastal northeast Pacific Ocean from 10-20 August 2005 and was conducted with a surface trawl fishing the upper 20 m of the water column along transects up to78 km offshore near 58 N. Three habitats were sampled along each transect over a 24-hr period: the continental shelf (<200 m depth), the continental slope (400-750 m depth), and the abyss (>2,000 m depth). A total of 38,747 fish and squid representing 24 species were sampled in 56 trawl hauls. Of the targeted juvenile fish species, a total of 587 salmon, 11 rockfish, and 70 sablefish were captured. Sampling during day (1500-1900) and night (2200-0200) periods indicated that biomass of fish and squid was 2-4 times higher at night at (each?)all habitat types pooled across transects. No distinct patterns between day or night occurrence were noted for juvenile pink salmon (O. gorbuscha), chum salmon (O. keta), sockeye salmon (O. nerka), or coho salmon (O. kisutch), however, juvenile Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha) were encountered only at night. Catches of juvenile rockfish and juvenile sablefish were quite low in this study, and larger sample sizes of these fish are needed to adequately determine their diel distribution. Diel differences were apparent with forage species such as Pacific herring (Clupea pallasi), capelin (Mallotus villosus), and eulachon (Thaleichthys pacificus) that were almost exclusively sampled at night. The offshore distribution patterns of target species were distinctly different, with the most common occurrences of juvenile salmon over continental shelf habitats, juvenile sablefish over continental shelf and slope habitats, and juvenile rockfish over slope and abyss habitats. Pacific herring, capelin, eulachon, and Pacific sardines (Sardinops sagax) were found over continental shelf habitats, whereas small squid and myctophids occurred primarily at slope and abyssal habitats. The greatest overall catch biomass was of gelatinous species (jellyfish), which was consistently higher than that of all fish and squid combined, usually by an order of magnitude. Individual fish or squid species with highest average weight per haul were pomfret (Brama japonica), adult coho salmon, Humboldt squid (Dosidicus gigas), and blue sharks (Prionace glauca). The occurrence of the latter two warm-water species and Pacific sardines were of interest because this study occurred during an anomalously warm year and the capture of Pacific sardines and Humboldt squid represent northern range extensions for these species. Stomach content analysis of potential predator species of the target species showed that only adult coho salmon were predating on juvenile salmon and sablefish, and only pomfret were predating on juvenile rockfish. Further sampling of the target species is needed in these habitats during more normal environmental conditions to validate these observations.

NOAA Fisheries Alaska Regional Office and Alaska Fisheries Science Center’s Auke Bay Laboratories designed the Nearshore Fish Atlas of Alaska (NFA) to provide access to available data on the distribution, relative abundance, and habitat use of nearshore fishes in Alaska. The NFA is a spatially explicit, unified database of numerous nearshore catch datasets collected by various agencies and organizations in Alaska over the past several decades. The compiled datasets are from dozens of studies with different objectives and gear types (e.g., beach seines, purse seines, and trawls). The online NFA application has spatial and tabular tools for extensive searching, filtering, and downloading fully attributed data.

Each year over 50 Alaskan groundfish stock assessments report the condition of Alaskan fisheries resources in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. Stock assessment scientists integrate biological observations and theoretical considerations via population modeling techniques to produce population dynamic trends and biological yield estimation. This data set captures various stock assessment trends and estimations.

The project consisted of a nearshore fish, invertebrate, and habitat survey in northern Bristol Bay, Alaska. A 32-ft. gillnet vessel, the F/V Willow was chartered for the survey, and we also used a 20-ft. aluminum skiff with 90-hp. motor for shallow water work. The survey was staged out of Dillingham, Alaska and took place from July 26-August 8, 2009.The main gear types used during the survey were a beach seine and a bottom beam trawl. A surface pair trawl (towed by the vessel and the skiff) was deployed in one location. Using these gear types, we sampled from the shoreline to 17 m depth, as well as surface waters ~1 km from the shoreline. Catches were sorted to species, enumerated, and when possible weighed using spring scales. Length measurements were taken for most species. Voucher specimens were preserved in 10% formalin for confirmation of species identification. A small number of samples were frozen for age and energetics analysis . Photographs were taken of most species. Small, datalogging conductivity-temperature-depth recorders (CTDs) were deployed on the trawl gear, and also placed on temporary moorings in several locations to study fluctuations in temperature and salinity over tidal cycles. We also recorded habitat variables at beach seine sites according to the methodology used in the Nearshore Fish Atlas of Alaska. During July 26-August 1, 2009 sampling was conducted in Nushagak Bay. High wind and waves hampered the sampling throughout this entire week and largely determined possible sampling locations. Two days were completely lost due to weather. On August 3 we traveled from Dillingham to the west side of the Nushagak and from August 4-8 sampling was conducted along the Nushagak Peninsula and in Kulukak, Nunavachak, Ungalikthluk, and Togiak Bays. During most of this time we experienced high winds but they did not hamper the sampling to the same degree as in the Nushagak. On August 8 we traveled back to Dillingham.

Since 1988, scientists at the Auke Bay Laboratories have been using the /Delta/ submarine for a wide range of research projects. Over 500 dives have been completed. The video collected during these projects provides valuable direct observations of seafloor habitat and biological attributes. This project is assembling a database that will include dive locations and basic biological and substrate information from each of the dives. To date, biological and substrate data have been processed for about 40% of the dives.

This database contains information about shrimp surveys conducted by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands dating back to 1953. The main tables used for analysis are the shrimp.catch, shrimp.length, shrimp.cruise, and shrimp.haul tables. Join columns provide linkages between the tables.The shrimp.catch table contains catch weights and counts by haul. Not all catch weights have associated counts and in the earlier years of the time series the catch of all species was not recorded so care must be taken that a non-recorded catch is not interpretated as a zero catch. The shrimp.length table contains the length measurements of the shrimp and other taxa taken during the smallmesh survey.The Shrimp.cruise table contains information on each of the individual surveys called cruises included in the smallmesh database from the Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska, and Aleutian Islands. The definition of a cruise has not been consistent over the years. Generally, a cruise is conducted by a single vessel in a single geographic area. For certain cruises however, multiple vessels participated in hauls ranging from the Bering Sea to the Gulf of Alaska. The records from some cruises contain as few as one haul while several consist of over 500 hauls. The Shrimp.haul table contains the basic information gathered for each haul including location, date and time, and gear information. Some of the hauls in the data set are from surveys not necessarily targeting shrimp, mainly the hauls in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands.

Herring is one of the most energy-rich fish in the Alaskan ecosystem, and when populations struggle over time, such as the Lynn Canal population, there is management concern. Prior to 1983, Lynn Canal herring supported a productive sac roe fishery, a bait fishery, and a winter food and bait fishery. All commercial fisheries were closed in 1983 and remain so today. The purpose of this study was to examine the genetic structure of Lynn Canal herring and determine if it was discrete from other collections in southeast Alaska. We used microsatellite DNA to examine both spawning and non-spawning aggregates (collected in two consecutive years) in Lynn Canal, and compared them to two Southeast Alaska populations: Prince of Wales Island (southernmost waters) and Sitka Sound on Baranof Island (outer-coast). In addition we examined two collections from Prince William Sound (approx. 850 km NW) as a means to compare extent of divergence over large tracts of unsuitable spawning habitat. Because the geographic location of Lynn Canal is somewhat isolated and schools are known to over-winter in the area, we hypothesized that Lynn Canal herring experience reduced gene flow. The results of our study showed allele frequencies from 16 loci were highly similar across all collections, including the distant Prince William Sound. This investigation concurs with previous studies that there is a large amount of movement among herring in the Gulf of Alaska. We conclude that Lynn Canal herring are part of a meta-population that is possibly Gulf wide or larger.

The GOA/AI Bottom Trawl Estimate database contains abundance estimates for the Alaska Biennial Bottom Trawl Surveys conducted in the Gulf of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands in alternate years. The estimates build upon raw and summary data available from the RACEBASE database and include calculated catch-per-unit-effort (cpue)s for principal species of groundfish and key invertebrates for each survey region. The cpues are averaged by survey strata, and then average cpues are multiplied by stratum areas which results in estimates of biomass and numerical abundance. Length and age data are combined with abundance to estimate the population at length and sex and population at age and sex.

These data arise from a field study of groundfish catch monitoring in Kodiak, AK trawl fisheries. Two monitoring components were included in the study: 1) at-sea sampling methods used by observers to sample species composition of catch and 2) shore-side sampling of delivered catch by observers to validate landings species composition reports. The at-sea portion of the study consisted of a side-by-side comparison (two observers) of a proposed new sampling method and the standard sampling method. Observer data were recorded at-sea on paper and transferred to an Oracle database. The shoreside component of this study consisted of observer species composition sampling in plants for later comparison with landings data. The shore-side data were collected by observers in processing plants, recorded on paper and transferred to an Oracle database. Data collection started in April 2011 and continued through August 2011. Third party landings data (NOAA Fisheries, Alaska Regional Office, Sustainable Fisheries Division) that were used in the analysis are stored in an oracle database. Data for both project components (at-sea and shoreside) were collected during normal fishing activities onboard commercial trawl catcher vessels and during normal processing activities in shore-based processing plants.

Annual series of economic data collected for years 2012 and forward for the Amendment 91 (A91) Chinook Salmon Economic Data Report (EDR). Reporting is required of entities participating in the American Fisheries Act (AFA) pollock fishery as vessel owners/leaseholders, fishing cooperative representatives, A91 Incentive Plan Agreement representatives, Western Alaska Community Development Quota (CDQ) Group representatives, and/or pollock quota share holders. holders of Amendment 80 quota share permits under federal fisheries regulations (see 50CFR679.65). The data collection is comprised of three data reporting forms: 1) Annual Vessel Fuel Survey (variables reported include vessel average fuel use rate by operational mode, annual vessel fuel purchase and expenditure), 2) Chinook Salmon Prohibited Species Catch (PSC) Allocation Compensated Transfer Report (CTR; variables include transfer and monetary compensation information for Chinook Salmon PSC allocations, and 3) Vessel Master Survey (variables included reperesent written responses of AFA vessel masters to a series of qualitative questions regarding impressions of fishing experiences during the year and of Chinook salmon PSC avoidance efforts).