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

YEUNG, C., and D. W. COOPER. Contrasting the variability in spatial distribution of two juvenile flatfishes in relation to thermal stanzas in the eastern Bering Sea. ICES J. Mar. Sci. Early Online. https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsz180 Online.
McCONNAUGHEY, R. A., J. G. HIDDINK, S. JENNINGS, C. R. PITCHER, M. J. KAISER, P. SUURONEN, M. SCIBERRAS, A. D. RIJNSDORP, J. S. COLLIE, T. MAZOR, R. O. AMOROSO, A. M. PARMA and R. HILBORN. 2019. Choosing best practices for managing impacts of trawl fishing on seabed habitats and biota. Fish Fish. Early Online. https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12431 Online.
STEVENSON, D. E., and R. R. LAUTH. 2019. Bottom trawl surveys in the northern Bering Sea indicate recent shifts in the distribution of marine species. Polar Biol. 42:407-421. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-018-2431-1 Online.
ZIMMERMANN, M., M. M. PRESCOTT, and P. J. HAEUSSLER. 2019. Bathymetry and geomorphology of Shelikof Strait and the Western Gulf of Alaska. Geosciences. 9:409. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences9100409 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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