Groundfish Assessment Program

Research

Photo of a basket of fish and invertebrates

The AFSC Groundfish Assessment Program (GAP), in addition to regularly conducting bottom trawl surveys, also investigates biological processes and interactions with the environment to estimate growth, mortality, and recruitment to improve the precision and accuracy of forecasting stock dynamics.
Impacts of bottom trawls on the seafloor and the description of bottom type are also being studied in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands.

*Featured Items*

Alaska Bathymetry, Sediments, and Smooth Sheets Go there >>

Validating and improving species distribution models for structure forming invertebrates using an independent survey in the eastern Bering Sea. Go there >>

Is the survey selectivity curve for Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) dome-shaped? Direct evidence from trawl studies. Go there >>

Recent Poster Presentations, Publications, Reports & Activities

STONE, R. P., H. LEHNERT, and G. R. HOFF 2019. Inventory of the eastern Bering Sea sponge fauna, geographic range extensions and description of Antho ridgwayi sp. nov. 4567:15. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4567.2.2 Online.
NICHOL, D. G., S. KOTWICKI, T. K. WILDERBUER, R. R. LAUTH, and J. N. IANELLI. 2019. Availability of yellowfin sole Limanda aspera to the eastern Bering Sea trawl survey and its effect on estimates of survey biomass. Fish. Res. 211: 319-330. Online.
STEVENSON, D. E., G. R. HOFF, J. W. ORR, I. SPIES, and C. N. ROOPER. 2019. Interactions between fisheries and early life stages of skates in nursery areas of the eastern Bering Sea. Fish. Bull. 117:8–14. https://spo.nmfs.noaa.gov/fishery-bulletin-journal/1171 Online.
STEVENSON, D. E., and R. R. LAUTH. 2018. Bottom trawl surveys in the northern Bering Sea indicate recent shifts in the distribution of marine species. Polar Biol. Early online. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-018-2431-1 Online.
Using Triggered Cameras to Determine Fish Behavior in Rocky, Untrawlable Areas
By: KRESIMIR WILLIAMS, CHRIS ROOPER, MIKE LEVINE, ALEX De ROBERTIS
Conference: Western Groundfish Conference (19th), Newport, OR, Feb 2016
(2016 poster, .pdf, 468 KB) Online.
Introducing the Working Group on Maturity Assessment and Reproductive Variability of Life Stages
By: SUSANNE McDERMOTT, SANDI NEIDETCHER, CHRISTINA CONRATH, PAUL SPENCER
Conference: Western Groundfish Conference (19th), Newport, OR, Feb 2016
(2016 poster, .pdf, 1.85 MB) Online.

See the poster and publications databases for additional listings.

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