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

VON SZALAY, P. G., and N. W. RARING. 2018. Data Report: 2017 Gulf of Alaska bottom trawl survey. U.S. Dep. Commer., NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-AFSC-374, 260 p. Online.
SCIBERRAS, M., J. G. HIDDINK, S. JENNINGS, C. L. SZOSTEK, K. M. HUGHES, B. KNEAFSEY, L. J. CLARKE, N. ELLIS, A. D. RIJNSDORP, R. A. MCCONNAUGHEY, R. HILBORN, J. S. COLLIE, C. R. PITCHER, R. O. AMOROSO, A. M. PARMA, P. SUURONEN, and M. J. KAISER. 2018. Response of benthic fauna to experimental bottom fishing: A global meta‐analysis. Fish Fish. Early online. https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12283 Online.
ROONEY, S., C. N. ROOPER, E. LAMAN, K. TURNER, D. COOPER, and M. ZIMMERMANN. 2018. Model-based essential fish habitat definitions for Gulf of Alaska groundfish species. U.S. Dep. Commer., NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-AFSC-373, 370 p. Online.
WILBORN, R., C. N. ROOPER, P. GODDARD, L. LI, K. WILLIAMS, and R. TOWLER. 2018. The potential effects of substrate type, currents, depth and fishing pressure on distribution, abundance, diversity, and height of cold-water corals and sponges in temperate, marine waters. Hydrobiologia 811:251-268. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10750-017-3492-9 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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