An underwater video photograph taken from the ROV Jason II of what are believed to be two giant grenadier at a depth of 1,203 m in the Aleutian Islands. Photo by Doris Alcorn.
SHARKS AND GRENADIERS IN ALASKA are two taxonomically unrelated groups of fishes that are interconnected by management and ecological commonalities. Although neither group is targeted by commercial fisheries in Alaska, both types of fishes are incidentally caught in considerable numbers
in both longline and trawl fisheries.
Recently, there has been increased interest in these species because of their ecological importance: grenadiers are the most abundant fish at surveyed depths on the continental slope, and sharks are predators at the top of the food chain. The increased interest
has also been sparked by these species’ potential susceptibility to overfishing due to their slow growth and late maturity. The following article summarizes the biology and management of sharks and grenadiers in Alaska and discusses current shark and grenadier research conducted by scientists at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center’s (AFSC) Auke Bay Laboratories (ABL).
