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Status of Stocks & Multispecies Assessment Program

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Figure 3. Length Frequency distribution in the three study areas. Solid line: Petrel Bank, Large stippled line: Tanaga Island, small stippled line: Seguam Pass.

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Fisheries Interaction Team (FIT) Staff Conduct Successful Atka Mackerel Tag Recovery Cruise in the Aleutian Islands (cont.)

During the cruise we conducted 73 hauls and examined 1,510 t of Atka mackerel for tags, which is equivalent to approximately 2.6 million individual fish.

We recovered 110 wild tags; 10 at Seguam Pass, 86 at Tanaga Pass, and 24 at Petrel Bank, all of which were released during the 2011 tag release charter.

All hauls were sampled for species composition and sexed length frequencies. In addition we collected 490 biological samples such as stomachs, gonads, and age structures and obtained sexed length frequencies from 6,805 individual fish.

Length distribution of Atka mackerel differed by area with the smallest fish at Petrel bank, medium sizes at Tanaga Pass, and the largest fish at Seguam Pass (Fig. 3).

In order to examine the habitat and develop indices of abundance, we conducted 14 underwater tows with a portable underwater camera (Figs. 4 and 5).

We conducted the camera tows at the same locations as the tag recovery hauls. We were able to conduct five camera tows at Seguam Pass, three camera tows at Tanaga Island, and six camera tows at Petrel Bank.

Further analysis will be conducted to estimate population sizes of Atka mackerel in these study areas, understand relative abundance of other SSL prey species and invertebrates, and habitat types associated with those populations.

By Susanne McDermott

 

 

 

 

Figure 4 (top). Phil Dang operates the underwater camera while watching the underwater image in video goggles. Figure 5 (bottom). Susanne McDermott and Phil Dang retrieve the underwater camera.

 

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