SOUTHCENTRAL REGION HALIBUT AND GROUNDFISH PROGRAM

Marine recreational fisheries are popular in Southcentral Alaska, supporting approximately 486,000 angler-days of effort for all finfish species (2000 estimate). An angler day equals one angler fishing for any part of a day. Effort has more than doubled in the last 20 years. A large portion of this recreational fishing effort is directed at Pacific halibut. In addition, nearly a dozen rockfish species as well as lingcod support recreational fisheries throughout the region. There is a low-level developing fishery for salmon sharks. In addition, numerous other groundfish species are occasionally targeted or taken incidentally, including starry flounder, arrowtooth flounder, Pacific cod, walleye pollock, sablefish, greenlings, skates and spiny dogfish.

The halibut and groundfish fisheries are supported entirely by wild stocks. Although accessible by road, many of these fisheries are considered remote because participation, for the most part, requires a boat. Cost of participation is relatively high compared to many other recreational fishing opportunities. A wide diversity of marine fishing opportunities exists throughout the region, and anglers without access to vessels can use the well-developed charter fleet.

Management

The State of Alaska has management authority for all recreational fisheries except halibut in state marine waters (0-3 miles). State regulations for recreational fisheries also apply in federal waters of the Exclusive Economic Zone (3-200 miles). Southcentral Region marine waters stretch from Kuskokwim Bay in the west to Cape Suckling in the east, spanning several sport fish regulatory areas, including Bristol Bay, Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands, Kodiak, Cook Inlet-Resurrection Bay, and Prince William Sound.

Federal agencies regulate the sport halibut fishery in state and federal waters (see Halibut link above). Halibut management is structured on International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) Regulatory Areas. Regulatory Area 3A stretches from the west end of Kodiak Island to Cape Spencer, and accounts for the majority of sport halibut landings.

Management of recreational groundfish fisheries in the region is a team effort. Area management biologists from Kodiak, Lower Cook Inlet, and North Gulf/Prince William Sound and regional staff review the harvest assessment program and work together to develop management strategies for rockfish, lingcod, and shark fisheries. Area management staff also review and contribute to other ADF&G programs that dovetail with the groundfish fishery, such as the statewide harvest survey and charter logbook program Finally, they coordinate with other resource management and information agencies and user groups. For example, they provide fishery harvest data and regulatory information to the IPHC, North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC), Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program, and charter associations and other user groups.

Management of recreational groundfish fisheries involves a minimum of inseason regulatory adjustments, or Emergency Orders. Unlike salmon, the annual harvest is small compared to the total population size. In addition, most groundfish species are long-lived with many age classes to buffer variability in recruitment or mortality. Bag limits and other regulations are set in the hope that they are sufficiently conservative to provide for long-term sustained yield, rather than maximum yield.

Estimates of the numbers of halibut and groundfish harvested are obtained through the statewide sport fish survey. These estimates are regrouped into five subareas that correspond with distinct fisheries within Southcentral Alaska for which port sampling data are available. Estimates of harvest characteristics obtained through port sampling (such as age or size) can then be matched with the harvest estimates for each subarea.

Primary management activities include monitoring of harvest, analyzing and reporting of recreational halibut harvest information to the NPFMC and IPHC, development and review of Board of Fish regulatory proposals, providing information at Board of Fish and advisory committee meetings, and dissemination of fishing and regulatory information to the public. Future directions for the program include development of fishery objectives based on the data currently being collected, and development of marine reserves as an additional management tool.

Meyer, S.C. and C. E. Stock. 2002. Management report for Southcentral Alaska recreational halibut and

groundfish fisheries, 2001. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Fishery Management Report No. 02-05, Anchorage. (698 KB PDF file)

Miller, M. G. and D. E. Bosch. 2004. Area management report for the recreational fisheries in Resurrection Bay,

2002. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Fishery Management Report No. 04-10, Anchorage. (1.2 MB PDF file)

Research

The Gulf of Alaska Halibut and Groundfish Harvest Assessment Project was launched in 1991, supported by WB-DJ Federal Aid in Fish Restoration funding. The project has continued every year since then, and now includes support from the National Marine Fisheries Service for halibut sampling and analysis. The project includes sampling of sport harvest at Kodiak, Homer, Deep Creek/Anchor Point, Seward, Valdez and Whittier, the primary ports of sport landings in Southcentral Alaska. Objectives are to estimate

1. Average weight and total poundage of the halibut harvest,
2. Length and sex composition of the halibut harvest,
3. Species composition of the rockfish harvest,
4. Age, length, and sex composition of the rockfish harvest,
5. Age, length, and sex composition of the lingcod harvest, and
6. Geographic distribution of bottomfishing effort and harvest.

Objectives 1-5 are accomplished by measuring, weighing, removing age structures from, and examining sport-caught fish or their carcasses. Objective 6 is achieved through interviews with a random sample of private anglers and charter operators that have completed their fishing day. No objectives have been established to estimate characteristics of shark harvest because too few sharks are harvested to generate estimates within a year. The shark harvest is sampled, however, and data shared with other shark researchers. It is hoped that life history and fishery parameters can be estimated using multiple years of data.

This research provides fishery managers with valuable information regarding characteristics of the bottomfish harvest and of the fishing fleet. Once an adequate time series of age composition of the rockfish and lingcod harvest is obtained, it may be incorporated into statistical models to estimate stock size and appropriate levels of harvest. Estimates of average weight of fish taken in the sport fishery are used to convert estimates of the number of fish harvested to pounds. Information on length and sex composition can be used to evaluate the effects of traditional management measures, such as size limits. Several years of data on harvest per boat trip are used to evaluate the effects of changes in bag limits. Finally, knowledge of areas fished may be useful in evaluating competition on the fishing grounds and localized stock depletion.

Estimates of average weight, harvest poundage, and length and sex composition of halibut are provided to the IPHC, NPFMC, and other agencies and individuals. Rockfish, lingcod, and shark information are provided primarily to Alaska Board of Fisheries, Advisory Committees, and charter and other sport fishing associations.

Lingcod Jig Survey

In 1998 we conducted a jig survey of lingcod in Resurrection Bay and the Chiswell Islands area near Seward. Lingcod surveys have been conducted in these waters periodically since the early 1990s for a variety of reasons. Early surveys provided anecdotal evidence to suggest that nest guarding is complete by mid-June, and confirmed anecdotal reports that the lingcod population in Resurrection Bay was depressed. A suite of regulations implemented in 1993 included a minimum size limit of 35 inches in all northern Gulf of Alaska waters, changing the selectivity of the fishery and limiting information on recruitment. Fishery-independent surveys were therefore needed to evaluate management measures and assess changes in size composition. Objectives of the survey were to (1) estimate the relative length and sex composition of lingcod in Resurrection Bay and the Chiswell Islands, and (2) test the hypothesis that there was no difference in length and sex composition in each area since the 1993-94 surveys. Results indicated that, despite anecdotal reports, abundance of lingcod in Resurrection Bay had not increased significantly. There was no significant change in length or sex composition in Resurrection Bay, but the sample size was small. Sample size in the Chiswell Islands area was larger, and significant decreases were detected in the proportions of female lingcod and the largest fish of each sex. Previous surveys did not record effort in a comparable manner, so catch per effort ratios could not be compared and no conclusions could be reached whether the changes were due to recruitment or attrition of older fish.

Cooperative Research

The Halibut and Groundfish Harvest Assessment Project provides ADF&G an opportunity to partner with other ADF&G projects, other resource management agencies, and user groups to gather data from groundfish and other fisheries. Examples of such cooperation include:

• Collection of halibut stomachs for a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service project looking at changes in forage fish populations in Cook Inlet. (Link to forage fish project report (PDF 503K)).
• Collection of salmon and Pacific sleeper shark vertebrae, stomachs, and other tissues for analysis by shark researchers from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and National Marine Fisheries Service.
• Assisting shark researchers from the above agencies with capture and tagging of salmon sharks in the field.
• Collection of rockfish genetics samples for Exxon Valdez Trustee Council funded research.
• Collection of lingcod genetics samples for a Pacific coast wide lingcod genetics study (Jagielo, T. H. et al. 1996. Genetic variation and population structure of lingcod. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 125:372-386).
• Examination of chinook salmon for coded-wire tags in the Kodiak sport fishery,
• Collection of fish tissues for heavy metals analysis by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.

Research Reports (PDF format)

Vincent-Lang, D. 1991. Age, length, and species compositions of groundfish harvested

in the marine sport fisheries of Resurrection Bay, Alaska, 1988-1990. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Fishery Data Series No. 91-28, Anchorage, Alaska. (2.4 MB PDF file)

Meyer, S. C. 1992. Biological characteristics of the sport harvest of marine groundfishes

in Southcentral Alaska, 1991. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Fishery Data Series No. 92-41, Anchorage. (6.5 MB PDF file)

Meyer, S. C. 1993. Biological characteristics of the sport harvest of Pacific halibut in

Southcentral Alaska, 1992. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Fishery Data Series No. 93-18, Anchorage. (3.0 MB PDF file)

Meyer, S. C. 1993. Assessment of the recreational harvest and fishery for lingcod in

Southcentral Alaska. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Fishery Data Series No. 93-33, Anchorage. (3.6 MB PDF file)

Meyer, S. C. 1994. The recreational halibut fishery in Southcentral Alaska (Area 3A)

with 1993 harvest composition. A report to the International Pacific Halibut Commission. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Special Publication No. 94-1, Anchorage. (3.7 MB PDF file)

Meyer, S. C. 1996. Recreational halibut fishery statistics for Southcentral Alaska

(Area 3A), 1994. A report to the International Pacific Halibut Commission. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Special Publication No. 96-1, Anchorage. (386 KB PDF file)

Meyer, S. C. 2000. Composition and biomass of the recreational rockfish Sebastes

harvest in Southcentral Alaska, 1992-1995. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Fishery Data Series No. 00-6. Anchorage. (6.6 MB PDF file)

Miller, M. 2001. Assessment of the recreational marine fisheries in eastern Prince

William Sound, 1999. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Fishery Data Series No. 01-2, Anchorage. (564 KB PDF file)

Bethe, M. L. and S. C. Meyer. 2002. A survey of lingcod in Resurrection Bay and the

Chiswell Islands, Gulf of Alaska, 1998. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Fishery Data Series No. 02-08. Anchorage. (361 KB PDF file)

Meyer, S. C. 2003. Recreational halibut fishery statistics for Southcentral Alaska (Regulatory Area 3A),

1995-1999. A report to the International Pacific Halibut Commission. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Special Publication No. 03-06, Anchorage. (386 KB PDF file)

Southcentral Region Groundfish Staff