Groundfish Fleet Restructuring Information and Analysis Project

Appendix B - Description of Species Associations Assigned

Our species categorization is driven by habitat associations, using depth range as an initial indicator. In other words, species are grouped by where they live both off the coast and in the water column. For the purposes of the GFR project, we follow the depth characterizations used in fishery science and management on the coast and distinguish between nearshore (< 50 fathoms), shelf (30–275 fathoms), slope (100–700 fathoms) (Turk, Builder et al. 2001). Notice that depth does not constitute a clear divider between habitats; rather, there is some overlap, and species of the shallow slope may be found on the deeper parts of the shelf and vice versa. The same is true for the nearshore and shelf.

We also stratify our species database into two additional categories used in management: DTS refers to Dover sole, thornyheads, and sablefish, which are jointly targeted and managed and can be found all over the slope. So the "slope" category never contains any Dover, thornyheads or sablefish information through our analysis. Finally, Pacific Whiting is in a separate category because of the unique characteristics of the fleet that targets it and its separate management.

Within each of these depth associations, species were further classified into multiple categories for the purpose of performing additional analyses. Individual species were grouped into depth management categories based on whether they were flatfish, roundfish, or rockfish in addition to their habitat association. See Table 1 for more details. Species were also grouped into FEAM (Fishery Economic Assessment Model) categories. We used the same categories that are used in the FEAM model by PFMC. The categories are:

• LING - Lingcod
• ORAP - Other rockfish and perch
• THRNY - Thornyheads
• SOFL - Sole and Flounder
• SABL - Sablefish
• PWHT - Pacific Whiting
• NULL - Other

In analyzing the fish ticket records for the FEAM model, lingcod, sablefish, and thornyheads were further classified by the gear type used to harvest them, either trawl or non-trawl. For additional information see Section 3.2.1

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