Fish age validation with bomb-produced radiocarbon (14C) requires a known-age Delta14C reference chronology spanning the era of a marine increase in bomb-produced 14C (1950s to 1960s). Concordance between otolith Delta14C in a validation sample and the reference chronology indicates accurate test ages. Here we compare a new Delta14C reference chronology from the eastern Bering Sea and a previously established reference from the Gulf of Alaska with otolith Delta14C in two validation species, eastern Bering Sea yellowfin sole (Limanda aspera) and Gulf of Alaska northern rockfish (Sebastes polyspinis). Our goals were twofold: to validate the age determination methods for northern rockfish and yellowfin sole using comparisons within oceanic basins, and to explore the outcome of making naive comparisons of these validation data sets to reference chronologies across oceanic basins. We present a information-theoretic approach to hypothesis testing and use Bayesian data analysis with Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation as a probabilistic framework to quantitatively estimate age determination bias and its uncertainty. Based on within-basin comparisons we concluded that estimated ages for eastern Bering Sea yellowfin sole and Gulf of Alaska northern rockfish were accurate. We further concluded that there were important differences in otolith 14C uptake between fish from the two ocean basins.

This data set was used to explore advanced technologies using Fourier transform near infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopy coupled with machine learning to estimate fish age more rapidly and with greater efficiency than traditional approaches.The data set integrates two key data modalities that are related to fish ages: the entire range of wavenumbers of FT-NIR spectra and corresponding biological and geospatial data for a total of 2613 northern rockfish (Sebastes polyspinis) specimens.

Data is available from annual bottom longline surveys conducted cooperatively by Japan (1979-1994) and the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, Alaska Fisheries Science Center (1988-present). Starting in 1988, the U.S. started conducting the survey, creating overlap between the two countries between1988-1994. Since 1994, the U.S. has conducted the survey independently. Stations are spaced systematically (~20-30 km apart) along the slope from the eastern Gulf of Alaska west to the Aleutian Islands and north into the eastern Bering Sea. At each station, depths from ~150-1000 meters are sampled. Each year the captain attempts to set the gear along the same path. The same stations are sampled each year except in the Aleutian Islands and the Bering Sea, which are sampled every other year at the beginning of the survey (last week of May-early June). Since 1995, in odd years the Bering Sea stations are sampled and in even years the Aleutian Islands are sampled. The status of each hook is recorded. Lengths are taken from major species including, sablefish, giant grenadier, Pacific grenadier, Greenland turbot, arrowtooth flounder, Pacific cod, shortspine thornyhead, and all rockfish caught.

The trawl database contains multiple tables of data. The ‘haul’ table contains the location, date, time and depth of the trawl haul. The ‘catch’ table contains the numbers and weights of the taxa in each haul. The ‘length’ table contains the lengths of selected taxa in each haul. There is data for the eastern Bering Sea for 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2014. There is Gulf of Alaska trawl data from 1993 to 2015.

The dataset is comprised of individual fish records from collections made during port sampling at Kodiak Alaska for the purpose of updating maturity estimates for selected GOA flatfish. The collections were made by an Alaska Fisheries Databank funded sampler. Sample preparation, ageing and histological determination of maturity state were completed by AFSC staff.

Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) runs in rivers that flow into the eastern Bering Sea have been inconsistent and at times very weak. Low returns of chinook (O. tshawytscha) and chum (O. keta) salmon to the Yukon River, Kuskokwim River, and Norton Sound areas of Alaska prompted the state of Alaska to restrict commercial and subsistence fisheries during 2000 and declare the region a fisheries disaster area. Weak salmon returns to these river systems follow several years of low sockeye (O. nerka) salmon returns to Bristol Bay, which was declared a fisheries disaster region during 1998 by both the State of Alaska and the U.S. Department of Commerce. Causes of the poor salmon returns to these river systems are not known however, the regional-scale decline of these stocks indicates that the marine environment may play a critical role. Ocean conditions, particularly in the first few months after the salmon leave fresh water, are known to significantly affect salmon survival (Holtby et al. 1990; Friedland et al. 1996; Beamish and Mahnken 2001). Mechanisms affecting marine survival of the eastern Bering Sea salmon stocks are unknown, principally due to the lack of marine life history information on western Alaska salmon. To improve understanding of the marine life-history stage of salmon in the Bering Sea, the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC) began an internationally coordinated research program on salmon in the Bering Sea called the Bering-Aleutian Salmon International Survey (BASIS) (NPAFC 2001). As part of BASIS, scientists from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Ocean Carrying Capacity (OCC) program conducted a fall survey on the eastern Bering Sea shelf to provide key ecological data for eastern Bering Sea salmon stocks during their juvenile life-history stage. The goal of the OCC/BASIS salmon research cruise was to understand mechanisms underlying the effects of environment on distribution, migration, and growth of juvenile salmon on the eastern Bering Sea shelf. Primary objectives of BASIS include: 1) to determine the extent of offshore migrations of juvenile salmon from rivers draining into the eastern Bering Sea, 2) to describe the physical environment of the eastern and northeastern Bering Sea shelf occupied by juvenile salmon, and 3) to collect biological information on other ecologically important species. Summaries of previous Bering Sea juvenile salmon research cruises can be found in Farley et al. (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005).

Annual growth increment patterns observed in the hard parts of many marine organisms are often related to factors in the physical environment, and investigators are increasingly using dendrochronology (tree-ring science) methods to explore these relationships. Dendrochronology techniques were applied to the otolith growth increments of yellowfin sole Limanda aspera to determine the extent to which somatic growth and otolith growth are coupled. Otoliths were visually crossdated to ensure that the correct calendar year was assigned to each growth increment. Growth-increment widths were measured in each otolith, crossdating was statistically checked, and a master chronology was generated by averaging measurement time series after age-related growth declines had been removed. The final chronology spanned 43 yr and was significantly related to Bering Sea bottom temperature and sea surface temperature. The relationship between otolith growth and somatic growth was explored using regression analysis. Population-wide otolith anomalies were found to be significantly related to population-wide anomalies in body size, as indexed by fish weight-length ratios.

Pressure Gauge data and Long Wave measurement project of University of Alaska. Pressure and time data were collected in association with a study of storm wave spectra conducted by the University of Alaska in the Gulf of Alaska at Middleton Island, AK. Data were collected with a B. J. Electronics Vibrotron Pressure Transducer (Model 120) at 70m. Bottom pressure was recorded at 4 second intervals. A hardcopy of the publication, "Comparison of Storm Wave Spectra from the Gulf of Alaska" (Roberts, Jo and T. Royer, authors) and the record format is included in the documentation.

Annual growth increment patterns observed in the hard parts of many marine organisms are often related to factors in the physical environment, and investigators are increasingly using dendrochronology (tree-ring science) methods to explore these relationships. Dendrochronology techniques were applied to otolith growth increments in 3 flatfish species collected from the eastern Bering Sea: northern rock sole Lepidopsetta polyxystra, yellowfin sole Limanda aspera, and Alaska plaice Pleuronectes quadrituberculatus. Within each species, otoliths were visually crossdated to ensure that the correct calendar year was assigned to each growth increment. Growth-increment widths were measured in each otolith, crossdating was statistically checked, and a master chronology was generated for each species by averaging measurement time series after age-related growth declines had been removed. The 3 final chronologies spanned 18 to 20 yr and were significantly correlated with each other, indicating a high level of growth synchrony among species. Final chronologies were compared to annual and monthly climate variables, and were most strongly related to summertime eastern Bering Sea bottom temperatures.

A total of 105 stations were occupied. There were two sample grids (southeast Alaska and Yakutat Bay) and two transects in the vicinity of Kayak Island. At each station we sampled using paired 20 and 60 cm Bongo frames (150 and 500 micron mesh nets, respectively) and a Sameoto neuston sampler (500 micron mesh net) to estimate the abundance of zoo- and ichthyoplankton. A SeaBird SeaCat (SBE 19 plus) was used with the bongo frames to determine the depth of the samplers in real time and to measure temperature and conductivity. At a few selected stations depth-stratified plankton were obtained with a 1 meter squared MOCNESS (500 micron mesh nets) and at other selected stations microzooplankton were sampled with vertical tows of a CalVET net (53 micron mesh).