DESCRIBING DUSKY ROCKFISH (Sebastes Ci/Iatus) HABITAT in the GULF of ALASKA USING HISTORICAL DATA
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
DESCRIBING DUSKY ROCKFISH (Sebastes ci/iatus) HABITAT IN THE GULF OF ALASKA USING HISTORICAL DATA A University Thesis Presented to the Faculty of California State University, Hayward In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science in Marine Sciences by Rebecca Francesca Reuter March, 1999 Abstract Aspects of dusky rockfish (Sebastes ciliatus) habitat in the Gulf of Alaska are described using historical data sources. In this study Alaskan groundfish fishery data collected by observers between 1990-96 and research survey data collected from three triennial surveys conducted by the National Marine Fisheries Service were used. These two data sets provide data that are essential in the preliminary description of the habitat and ecology of S. ciliatus. Analyses using techniques such as geographic information systems (GIS) to describe the geographic distribution and hierarchical cluster analysis to describe rockfish species associations with S. ciliatus provide results that describe some of the parameters of their essential habitat. S. cilia/us occur in great abundance over localized areas throughout the Gulf of Alaska. Results of analyses using fishery data indicate that fishermen findS. ciliatus in abundance near mouths of submarine gullies/canyons and at deep banks. Analysis of survey data show that areas of S. ciliatus habitat are not adequately sampled, but they do support the results of the fishery data by showing that S. ciliatus do not have a dispersed distribution. The depth range where most adultS. ciliatus aggregations occur are located at I 00 - 200 m. Tllis information may be used to suggest a management scheme that calculates localized quotas for these habitat locations. The size, age composition and growth of S. ciliatus indicate that several habitats are utilized throughout their life cycle. Similar to other species of rockfish, larger and older S. ciliatus occur at deeper depths than the smaller and younger ones. The von BertalanftY growth parameters of S. ciliatus were similar for all regions and for both males and females. Unlike other species of rockfish, femaleS. cilia/us maximum length ii were not significantly larger than males. Further investigations of the age and growth patterns of dusky rockfish should be conducted to confirm these preliminary results. The rockfish associated with S. ciliatus are similar throughout the Gulf of Alaska. In the western and central regions, for both pata sets, S. polyspinus and S. a hilus co-occur most frequently with S. ciliatus. In the eastern region, for both data sets, many more rockfish species were associated with S. ciliatus suggesting that a greater diversity of rockfish occurs in the eastern region of the Gulf of Alaska and that more non-commercial species of rockfish are caught as bycatch in the fishery. These results, from the cluster analysis of rockfish species that co-occur with S. ciliatus, suggest that current rockfish management assemblages need revision. iii Aclmowledgments I would like to take this time to thank everyone that I have met and befriended, from New Mexico through the Monterey Bay area and north to Seattle and Alaska, along my journey towards my Masters degree. If'it were not for the support, guidance and caring from them I probably would have diverged from this journey a long time ago. Gregor Cailliet I thank you for who you are, a person with a wealth of knowledge that I admire and a good hearted person that I respect. Thanks for supporting me as I followed my desires to study what I present in this thesis. Thanks to my other committee members, Jon Heifetz for your knowledge of the rockfishes in the Gulf of Alaska and Mike Hedrick for your time and expert review of my thesis. Thanks to the Earl and Ethyl M. Myers Foundation and the International Women's Fishing Association for their funding support of my education and my initial research. A big thanks to everyone at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center who allowed me to use their data for my thesis and who ultimately gave me an office with a great view to Lake Washington. The support and guidance I received while conducting my research there was incalculable. Last but not least, thank you Sean Squires for being my partner in crime through thick and thin, from the early days back in 1993 until now. We can go on that honeymoon now because I have finished honey, I have finally finished. v Table of Contents Abstract ·········································································································· ii-iii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... v Lists of Tables ············································'·····························································vii LJsts. o fF"1gures .......................................................................................................... vm··· Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 Background .......................................................................................................... 5 Chapter 1: Distribution and abundance patterns of Sebastes ciliatus Introduction .................................................................................................... 12 Methods ......................................................................................................... 14 Results .......................................................................................................... 21 Discussion ...................................................................................................... 24 Chapter 2: Size composition, age and growth of Sebastes ciliatus Introduction .................................................................................................... 3 8 Methods ......................................................................................................... 40 Results .......................................................................................................... 43 Discussion ...................................................................................................... 45 Chapter 3: Rockfish associated with Sebastes ciliatus Introduction .................................................................................................... 53 Methods ................................................................... , ..................................... 55 Results .................................... , ..................................................................... 57 Discussion ...................................................................................................... 60 Summary .......................................................................................................... 75 References .......................................................................................................... 76 vi List of Tables Table Page 0.1 List of rockfishes (Sebastes spp.) from the north Pacific ocean and their respective management assemblage in the GOA. ............................................................... 8 1.1 Results from Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for abundance and frequency of occurrence by depth for CFOD and RSD. a-b. CFOD ............................................................................................... 26-27 c-d. RSD ............................................................................................... 28 2.1 Kolmogorov-Smirnov two sample test results from length frequency distribution by depth of CFOD and RSD for the central and eastern regions. ............................................................................................... 48 3 .I Frequency of occurrence (%) of rockfish with dusky rockfish in respective region based on CPUE from CFOD .................................................. 63 3.2 Frequency of occurrence(%) of rockfish species with dusky rockfish from RSD in respective region based on CPUE ............................................... 64 3.3 Abbreviations of rockfish species found in clustered hauls at the upper slope strata of the Gulf of Alaska ..................................................................... 65 vii List of Figures Figure Page 0.1 Map of Gulf of Alaska study area split into fishery management areas .............. 9 0.2 Pelagic shelf rockfish total catch and ABC levels for the entire GOA since in became a management group in 1988 .................................................................. 10 0.3 Illustrations of Sebastes ciliatus from a. Tilesius (181 0), b. Evermann (1898), c. Barsukov (1964) and d. Westrheim (1968, 1973) ............................................ 11 1.1 a. Average CPUE (kg/hr) of dusky rockfish in the Gulf of Alaska from CFOD, 1990-1996 by management region. b. Average catch per unit effort (kg/km2) of dusky rockfish per region and year of GOA research survey .......................... 29 1.2 Depth distribution of dusky rockfish from fishery data for each region Of the GOA based on frequency of occurrence and density (avg. CPUE) plus total effort for years 1990-1996 ................................................................... 30 1.3 Depth distribution of dusky rockfish from survey data for each region Of the GOA based on frequency of occurrence and density (avg. CPUE) plus total effort from 1990, 1993 and 1996 surveys ............................................ 31 1.4 Map of the geographic distribution of the