The Catch Accounting System (CAS) creates total catch estimates for the groundfish fisheries in the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska. Each year, quotas are established in the CAS that match the annual harvest specification tables for federally managed groundfish fisheries off Alaska. The output of the CAS is the total amount of groundfish that is retained and the amount that is discarded at sea. In addition, the system creates estimates of the total amount of non-groundfish species -- both prohibited species and non-target species -- that are caught in the groundfish fisheries. Prohibited species catch (PSC) consists of salmon, halibut, and several species of crab. All the PSC species have economic value in non-groundfish fisheries and therefore cannot be retained in the groundfish fisheries. Non-target catch are species like coral, sponges, etc., and catch of these species needs to be calculated in order to evaluate the impact of the groundfish fisheries on the ecosystem. The CAS uses a combination of industry reports and onboard observer information to provide an estimate of total catch and bycatch. Industry reported data consists of catch (landing reports) and processed product amounts (production reports), and these reports are electronically recorded and submitted to NMFS via eLandings. The observer data are collected by the Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) using a stratified sampling design. Other sources of information come from the Alaska Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission (CFEC), which issues permits and vessel licenses, and Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS), which collect the position, time at a position, and course and speed of fishing vessels.

The Blend was the system used by the NMFS Alaska Regional Office to monitor groundfish catch from 1991 until 2002. The Blend system combined data from industry production reports and observer reports to make the best, comprehensive accounting of groundfish catch. These data were used to manage quotas for groundfish in the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, and Aleutian Islands. The blend catch data were also used as the basis for computing estimates of prohibited species bycatch. Prohibited species include Pacific halibut, salmon, herring, and crabs. Blend data were used for numerous regional and national reports, fishery stock assessments, and analysis of fishery management plans. The Blend system used a combination of industry reports and observer data. For shoreside processors, Weekly Production Reports (WPR) submitted by industry were considered the best source of data for retained groundfish landings. All fish delivered to shoreside processors were weighed on scales, and these weights were used to account for retained catch. Observer data from catcher vessels provided the best data on at-sea discards of groundfish by vessels delivering to shoreside processors. Discard rates from these observer data were applied to the shoreside groundfish landings to estimate total at-sea discards from both observed and unobserved catcher vessels. For observed catcher/processors and motherships, the WPR and the Observer Reports recorded estimates of total catch (retained catch plus discards). If both reports were available, the Blend System selected one of them for incorporation into the catch database. If the vessel was unobserved, only the WPR was available. In 2003, the Catch Accounting Sytem was implemented and took advantage of industry reports at a more detailed level, especially from shoreside processors. The Blend system was based on weekly data from processors and was not capable of accounting for some management programs -- including cooperatives, sideboards, complex seasonal allocations, Harvest Limit Area quotas, and quotas assigned to vessels of a particular size class. The Catch Accounting System replaced the Blend as the tool used by the National Marine Fisheries Service to estimate total catch in the groundfish fisheries off Alaska.

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.

Spatial management files combine all related and relevant spatial management files into an integrated fisheries management file. Overlaps of the redundant spatial restrictions were removed by defining the least to the most restrictive management measures and then doing updates on the less restrictive measures. FROM least restrictive to MOST Restrctive>>>>Habitat Conservation Areas || Habitat Protection Areas, Habitat Coral Areas || Special Habitat Areas || Steller Sea Lion Protection Measures, Walrus Protection Measures, Walrus No Entry Areas, and finally the most restrictive, the Steller No Transit Area. Arc operation employed: UPDATE.Data compiled from regulatory packages including ' 679.22 Closures. Tables 4, 5, 6, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27'226.202 Critical habitat for Steller sea lions.50 CFR 223.202, No Transit AreasData was made available in several formats including: ArcGIS Featureclasses, shapefiles, AutoCad files, and within an integrated CarryMap application.

This data set captures the tag release and recovery information for sablefish from the early 1970s until present. It also contains tag release and recovery data for several other species (shortspine thornyheads, Greeland turbot, Pacific sleeper sharks, spiny dogfish, and lingcod) which have been tagged by NMFS in AK since the late 1990s.

NWFSC Observer programs are the most comprehensive fishery dependent data collection system for total mortality estimation, protected species monitoring and discard data for stock assessments. Observer data is also used to track quotas in-season for the catch share IFQ fishery. The numerous observer program total mortality and bycatch reports are used by agency and council staff for management of federal and state fisheries on the west coast of the US. Observer program bycatch reports, data collection and research activities are also used to manage ESA listed species and fulfill Biological Opinion obligations. Observer raw data is matched to fish tickets to produce haul specific catch totals.

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.

Beginning in 2014, the the halibut Catch Sharing Plan (CSP) authorizes annual transfers of commercial halibut IFQ as guided angler fish (GAF) to charter halibut permit holders for harvest in the charter halibut fishery. GAF offers charter halibut permit holders in Area 2C or Area 3A an opportunity to lease a limited amount of IFQ from commercial quota share (QS) holders to allow charter clients to harvest halibut in addition to, or instead of, the halibut harvested under the daily bag limit for charter anglers. Charter anglers using GAF are subject to the harvest limits in place for unguided sport anglers in that area. Information about GAF landings are submitted electronically through eFish, NMFS' integrated online system, and include details on when and where the GAF were caught, the number and length of fish, as well as permit, vessel, license, and logbook details.

NOAA Fisheries and its partners conduct fisheries-independent surveys in 8 regions in the US (Northeast, Southeast, Gulf of Mexico, West Coast, Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, Hawai’i Islands). These surveys are designed to collect information on the seasonal distribution, relative abundance, and biodiversity of fish and invertebrate species found in U.S. waters. Over 900 species of fish and invertebrates have been identified in these surveys.

NOAA Fisheries and its partners conduct fisheries-independent surveys in 8 regions in the US (Northeast, Southeast, Gulf of Mexico, West Coast, Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, Hawai’i Islands). These surveys are designed to collect information on the seasonal distribution, relative abundance, and biodiversity of fish and invertebrate species found in U.S. waters. Over 900 species of fish and invertebrates have been identified in these surveys.