Book Description
Currently there are no overarching management or assessment strategies for black rockfish Sebastes melanops or yelloweye rockfish S. ruberrimus across the Gulf of Alaska. Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s management of these species has been largely area- or region-specific and management has not been well coordinated across fishery divisions. Guideline harvest levels are used for managing commercial fisheries; however, these are applied to management areas rather than populations and are primarily based on levels of historical harvest. Sport fisheries are managed to constrain harvest levels (e.g., bag limits), but typically without an adequate understanding of how those harvest levels translate to exploitation rates of populations. Because rockfish are known to be particularly vulnerable to exploitation, and harvests are believed to be increasing in recent years, proactive measures are needed to ensure long term sustainability of these fisheries. In 2017, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game initiated an interdivisional, statewide initiative focused on developing long-term management and assessment strategies for these 2 species. This report describes the need to develop comprehensive management strategies for black and yelloweye rockfishes, provides information on the basic biology and ecology of each species, and summarizes historical and current management and assessment throughout the Gulf of Alaska. This report also summarizes progress to date to develop sustainable management strategies, including the outcomes of multiple workshops attended by management and research staff involved in rockfish fisheries. The goal of the workshops and future efforts is to develop long-term collaborative management strategies that support stable populations and sustainable black and yelloweye rockfishfisheries across the Gulf of Alaska.
