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Marine Population Assessment & Management Group
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[ The Punt Lab ] |
at the School of Aquatic & Fishery Sciences, University of Washington |
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Research Projects |
Research Cetacean Stocks Subject to Aboriginal Subsistence Harvest West Coast groundfish The groundfish fishery off the US west coast (California, Oregon and Washington) is managed by the National Marine Fisheries Service, who is advised by the Pacific Fishery Management Council. Of the 81 species listed in the PFMC’s Groundfish Management Plan, nine are currently designated to be overfished. As a result, restrictive trip limits have been imposed on commercial fishers, bag limits have been reduced for recreational and charter fishers, and a substantial part of the continental shelf has been closed to all fishing. The need for sound science for groundfish species has therefore never been greater. As a result, through a NMFS-funded grant, and in close collaboration with NMFS NWFSC scientists, we are developing and extending the quantitative methods used to analyze the population dynamics of groundfish species, and are assisting in their implementation in specific cases. Although the methods we develop are applied to groundfish species of the US West Coast, they are broadly applicable. Through our research we aim to integrate the biological, climatological, habitat, and ecosystem factors which affect groundfish into the assessment models that will provide the scientific basis for setting annual harvest guidelines and designing rebuilding strategies. We place special emphasis on quantifying the impact of uncertainty on fisheries management information, especially in data-poor situations, such as the management of near-shore rockfish species. We investigate the ability of the management schemes applied to manage groundfish species in terms of their ability to satisfy the National Standard guidelines included in the Sustainable Fisheries Act. This groundfish research is supported through NMFS’s Stock Assessment Improvement Plan. There is a worldwide shortage of scientists with expertise in the field of fisheries stock assessment. Through this project and other similar projects, NMFS provides support for the training and mentoring of graduate students within this field. Three SAFS students (Trevor Branch, Jason Cope, and Ian Taylor) are funded directly by this grant while two SAFS students (Melissa Haltuch and Ian Stewart) are funded through the NMFS-Sea Grant Population Dynamics Fellowship. To further encourage collaboration between the University and groundfish researchers at the Seattle-based NMFS Science Centers, we run a workshop series in collaboration with the NWFSC and AFSC (click on link to the left for workshop schedule), which aims to inform agency staff about the outcomes of our research, and to inform graduate students regarding current research at the NMFS. |