Biological Characteristics and Fishery Assessment of Alaska Plaice, Pleuronectes quadrituberculatus, in the Eastern Bering Sea
Alaska plaice, Pleuronectes quadrituberculatus, is one of the major flatfishes in the eastern Bering Sea ecosystemand is most highly concentrated in the shallow continental shelf of the eastern Bering Sea. Annual commercial catches have ranged from less than 1,000 metric tons (t) in 1963 to 62,000 t...
Main Authors: | , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
1998
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1834/26421 |
id |
ftoceandocs:oai:aquadocs.org:1834/26421 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftoceandocs:oai:aquadocs.org:1834/26421 2023-05-15T15:43:21+02:00 Biological Characteristics and Fishery Assessment of Alaska Plaice, Pleuronectes quadrituberculatus, in the Eastern Bering Sea Zhang, Chang Ik Wilderbuer, Thomas K. Walters, Gary E. 1998 application/pdf 16-27 http://hdl.handle.net/1834/26421 en eng http://spo.nwr.noaa.gov/mfr6042.pdf 0090-1830 http://hdl.handle.net/1834/26421 http://aquaticcommons.org/id/eprint/9799 403 2012-08-14 20:08:13 9799 United States National Marine Fisheries Service Biology Ecology Fisheries Management article TRUE 1998 ftoceandocs 2023-04-06T17:03:10Z Alaska plaice, Pleuronectes quadrituberculatus, is one of the major flatfishes in the eastern Bering Sea ecosystemand is most highly concentrated in the shallow continental shelf of the eastern Bering Sea. Annual commercial catches have ranged from less than 1,000 metric tons (t) in 1963 to 62,000 t in 1988. Alaska plaice is a relatively large flatfish averaging about 32 cm in length and 390 g in weight in commercial catches. They are distributed fromnearshore waters to a depth of about 100 m in the eastern Bering Sea during summer, but move to deeper continental shelf waters in winter to escape sea ice and cold watertemperatures. Being a long-lived species (>30 years), they have a relatively low natural mortality rate estimated at 0.20. Maturing at about age 7, Alaska plaice spawn from April through June on hard sandy substrates of the shelf region, primarily around the 100 m isobath. Prey itemsprimarily include polychaetes and other marine worms. In comparison with other flatfish, Alaska plaice and rock sole, Pleuronectes bilineatus, have similar diets but different habitat preferences with separate areas of peak population density which may minimize interspecific competition. Yellowfin sole, Pleuronectes asper, while sharing similar habitat, differs from these two speciesbecause of the variety of prey items in its diet. Competition for food resources among the three species appears to be low. The resource has experienced light exploitation since 1963 and is currently in good condition. Based on the results of demersal trawl surveys and age-structured analyses, the exploitable biomass increasedfrom 1971 through the mid-1980’s before decreasing to the 1997 level of 500,000 t. The recommended 1998 harvest level, Allowable Biological Catch, was calculated from the Baranov catch equation based on the FMSY harvest level and the projected 1997 biomass, resulting in a commercialharvest of 69,000 t, or about 16% of the estimated exploitable biomass. Article in Journal/Newspaper Bering Sea Sea ice Alaska IODE-UNESCO: OceanDocs - E-Repository of Ocean Publications Bering Sea |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
IODE-UNESCO: OceanDocs - E-Repository of Ocean Publications |
op_collection_id |
ftoceandocs |
language |
English |
topic |
Biology Ecology Fisheries Management |
spellingShingle |
Biology Ecology Fisheries Management Zhang, Chang Ik Wilderbuer, Thomas K. Walters, Gary E. Biological Characteristics and Fishery Assessment of Alaska Plaice, Pleuronectes quadrituberculatus, in the Eastern Bering Sea |
topic_facet |
Biology Ecology Fisheries Management |
description |
Alaska plaice, Pleuronectes quadrituberculatus, is one of the major flatfishes in the eastern Bering Sea ecosystemand is most highly concentrated in the shallow continental shelf of the eastern Bering Sea. Annual commercial catches have ranged from less than 1,000 metric tons (t) in 1963 to 62,000 t in 1988. Alaska plaice is a relatively large flatfish averaging about 32 cm in length and 390 g in weight in commercial catches. They are distributed fromnearshore waters to a depth of about 100 m in the eastern Bering Sea during summer, but move to deeper continental shelf waters in winter to escape sea ice and cold watertemperatures. Being a long-lived species (>30 years), they have a relatively low natural mortality rate estimated at 0.20. Maturing at about age 7, Alaska plaice spawn from April through June on hard sandy substrates of the shelf region, primarily around the 100 m isobath. Prey itemsprimarily include polychaetes and other marine worms. In comparison with other flatfish, Alaska plaice and rock sole, Pleuronectes bilineatus, have similar diets but different habitat preferences with separate areas of peak population density which may minimize interspecific competition. Yellowfin sole, Pleuronectes asper, while sharing similar habitat, differs from these two speciesbecause of the variety of prey items in its diet. Competition for food resources among the three species appears to be low. The resource has experienced light exploitation since 1963 and is currently in good condition. Based on the results of demersal trawl surveys and age-structured analyses, the exploitable biomass increasedfrom 1971 through the mid-1980’s before decreasing to the 1997 level of 500,000 t. The recommended 1998 harvest level, Allowable Biological Catch, was calculated from the Baranov catch equation based on the FMSY harvest level and the projected 1997 biomass, resulting in a commercialharvest of 69,000 t, or about 16% of the estimated exploitable biomass. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Zhang, Chang Ik Wilderbuer, Thomas K. Walters, Gary E. |
author_facet |
Zhang, Chang Ik Wilderbuer, Thomas K. Walters, Gary E. |
author_sort |
Zhang, Chang Ik |
title |
Biological Characteristics and Fishery Assessment of Alaska Plaice, Pleuronectes quadrituberculatus, in the Eastern Bering Sea |
title_short |
Biological Characteristics and Fishery Assessment of Alaska Plaice, Pleuronectes quadrituberculatus, in the Eastern Bering Sea |
title_full |
Biological Characteristics and Fishery Assessment of Alaska Plaice, Pleuronectes quadrituberculatus, in the Eastern Bering Sea |
title_fullStr |
Biological Characteristics and Fishery Assessment of Alaska Plaice, Pleuronectes quadrituberculatus, in the Eastern Bering Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Biological Characteristics and Fishery Assessment of Alaska Plaice, Pleuronectes quadrituberculatus, in the Eastern Bering Sea |
title_sort |
biological characteristics and fishery assessment of alaska plaice, pleuronectes quadrituberculatus, in the eastern bering sea |
publishDate |
1998 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1834/26421 |
geographic |
Bering Sea |
geographic_facet |
Bering Sea |
genre |
Bering Sea Sea ice Alaska |
genre_facet |
Bering Sea Sea ice Alaska |
op_source |
http://aquaticcommons.org/id/eprint/9799 403 2012-08-14 20:08:13 9799 United States National Marine Fisheries Service |
op_relation |
http://spo.nwr.noaa.gov/mfr6042.pdf 0090-1830 http://hdl.handle.net/1834/26421 |
_version_ |
1766377435700396032 |