Executive summary

• Main Authors: Olav A. Ormseth, Mike Canino, Liz Conners, I Neidetcher, Peter Munro, Sarah Gaichas
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: Bering Sea; Pacific; Archipelago; Alaska; Aleutian Islands
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.161.744; http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc/current_issues/pcod/pcodbiology908.pdf

The NPFMC is considering action that would treat the eastern Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands separately for the purposes of Pacific cod management. This report is intended to summarize existing biological information on Pacific cod that may be useful in evaluating this action. The following conclusions may be useful and are described in greater detail in the report: 1) There is highly significant genetic isolation by distance in the Pacific cod stocks of North America (i.e. genetic differences among individuals increase with geographic distance; Fig. 1-2).This result, as well as several different genetic comparisons among regional groupings, suggest that Pacific cod stocks in the Aleutian Islands archipelago are distinct from those along the contiguous Alaska Peninsula. 2) In 2005, length at age was significantly higher in the AI than in the EBS for both female and male cod (Table 2-1, Figs. 2-2 & 2-3). This difference is present at all ages. 3) Commercial trawls in the AI catch bigger female and male cod than do trawls in the EBS (Figs. 3-1, 3-2 & 3-3). From 2004 to 2006, the mode for cod in the EBS occurred at 65-70 cm, while the mode for females in the AI occurred at 80-85 cm. Fish smaller than 50 cm were evident in EBS trawls, but were rare in the AI.