The data include a full year of logbook forms for vessels 60-124 feet in length (the partial coverage fleet) that had participated in the trawl flatfish fishery of 2005 in the Gulf of Alaska. The digitized hauls were not restricted exclusively to the population of trips to the Gulf of Alaska (GOA), since some vessels also participated in BSAI trawl fisheries. A total of 55 unique vessels daily fishing logbooks (9 catcher-processors and 46 catcher vessels) were digitized into the Vessel Log System database. The daily production section for catcher-processors was not digitized, therefore they were excluded from the data entry procedure and we focus on the remaining catcher vessels. These logbook records are then combined with observer and fish ticket data for the same vessels to create a more complete accounting of each vessels activity in 2005. In order to examine the utility, uniqueness, and the congruence of data contained in the logbooks with other sources, we collated vessel records from logbook data with Alaska Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission (CFEC) fish tickets (retrieved from the Alaska Fisheries Information Network (AKFIN)) and the North Pacific Groundfish Observer Program observer records. Merging of datasets was a multiple-step process. The first merge of data was between the quality-controlled observer and fish ticket data. Prior to 2007, the observer program did not track trip-level information such as the date of departure and return to/from port, or landing date. Consequently, to combine the 2005 haul-level observer data with the trip-level data from the fish tickets for a given vessel, each observer haul was merged with a fish ticket record if the haul retrieval date from the observer data was contained within in the modified start and end date derived from the fish ticket data (see above). Since the starting date on the fish ticket record represents the date fishing began, rather than the date a vessel left port, all observer haul records should be within the time frame of the fish ticket start and end dates. The observer hauls were therefore given the same trip number as determined by the fish tickets trip numbering algorithm. The same process was then repeated to merge each logbook haul onto the combined fish ticket and observer data. Trip targets were then assigned from the North Pacific Fishery Management Council comprehensive observer database (Council.Comprehensive_obs) for observed trips, and statistical areas denoted on the fish tickets were mapped to Fishery Management Plan (FMP) areas. After quality control, the dataset was considered complete, and is referred to as the combined dataset.

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.

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.

Observer data span more than two decades and multiple database development interations. To facilitate status of stocks authors and other users of these records, a data set separate from the OLAP was created which reformats and repackages vetted (debriefed) observer data from NORPAC into a common structure, format, and syntax. The granularity of current production data is compromised, however for the purposes of longitudinal research the data set is internally consistant, and spans the developmental boundaries.

Logbooks are the industry reports submitted by vessels documenting fishing activity. In particular, these reports provide haul specific information, gear, fishing depth specifics, and vessel estimates of catch. Logbooks may be completed either on paper or in an electronic format. Paper logbooks are required to be completed and submitted for federally permitted vessels over 60 feet in length that are fishing for groundfish and for vessels that are 25 feet and over in length fishing for IFQ halibut. The submission of electronic logbooks is required for trawl catcher/processors participating in the American Fisheries Act (AFA) and Community Development Quota (CDQ) pollock fisheries in the BSAI, trawl catcher/processors participating in the Central GOA rockfish program, and longline catcher/processors fishing for Pacific cod if required to weigh the Pacific cod on a NMFS-approved scale. Some other catcher processors and catcher vessels voluntarily submit an electronic logbook instead of a paper one.

Data collected by the ATLAS Client and transmitted electronically or by fax to the AFSC are loaded into production transaction tables which are the source data for those interfaces used for fishery management, scientific inquiry and fishing activity monitoring by industry.

This data set contains catch and effort for fishing trips that are taken by vessels with a Federal permit issued for the swordfish and sharks under the Highly Migratory Species (HMS) fishery management plan. Fishermen that own vessels with permits in these fisheries are required to complete a vessel logbook for every trip in which any species in the Highly Migratory Species fishery management plans are caught and landed. Fishermen are not required to report fishing trips in which other than these species are caught. However, fishermen are required to submit a no-fishing report if they did not fish for or catch any HMS species during a calendar month. In 1986, the Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC) initiated a logbook program for vessels that held a federal vessel permit to fish for swordfish in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. In 1993, a similar program was initiated for vessels with a federal permit to fish for sharks that are included in the HMS fishery management plan. In order to provide sufficient level of detail for fishing effort by the longline vessels, the catch and effort data need to be reported for each longline set. Consequently, a single logbook form was designed for the fishermen to record the catch (numbers of animals caught) and effort, which includes data on the length of the longline, the number of hooks and the duration of the set. To reduce the number of times that fishermen need to record certain pieces of information, e.g., location of unloading, duration of trip, number of crew, a trip summary form was designed in 1999 that includes the trip-related information that is the same for every set. This redesign of the logbook form resulted in two forms, the trip summary and the set forms. Only one trip summary needs to be completed for each trip, but a separate set form needs to be completed for each longline set made during the trip. At the same time, additional questions were added to the trip summary form to collect information on the expenses that the vessels incurred during the trip. Initially, this information was voluntary and the fishermen did not have to provide the cost data whereas the catch and effort data are mandatory and the vessels permit will not be renewed if logbooks are not received for every trip where swordfish and/or sharks are caught and landed.

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.

We assembled 1.75 million National Ocean Service (NOS) bathymetric soundings from 225 lead-line and single-beam echosounder hydrographic surveys conducted from 1901 to 1999 in the central Gulf of Alaska. These bathymetry data are available from the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov), which archives and distributes data that were originally collected by the NOS and others. While various bathymetry data have been downloaded previously from NGDC, compiled, and used for a variety of projects, our effort differed in that we compared and corrected the digital bathymetry by studying the original analog source documents - digital versions of the original survey maps, called smooth sheets. Our editing included deleting erroneous and superseded values, digitizing missing values, and properly aligning all data sets to a common, modern datum. There were several areas where these older surveys were superseded by more recent, higher quality multibeam surveys, mostly from the NOS (n=106). Three of these were unprocessed NOS multibeam surveys in the Sitka area, which we edited and processed into final bathymetric surfaces. We reduced the resolution of these multibeam surveys to 100 m, since some may have sub-meter resolution and many exceed a million soundings, and added them to our bathymetry compilation. We proofed, edited or digitized 96,000 cartographic features (mostly from the smooth sheets, some from the multibeam surveys), such as rocky reefs, kelp beds, rocks and islets, creating the most thorough source of these typically shallow, inshore features. The depth surface and inshore features, available at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC: http://www.afsc.noaa.gov), were mostly produced at a map scale of 1:20,000.

The dataset contains trawl and seine catches from Southeast Alaskan estuaries sampled from 1995 to 2008. The data also include physical variables (temp, salinity, turbidity), and shorezone shoreline classifications.