North Pacific Fishery Management Council. Plan Team for the Groundfish Fisheries of the Gulf of Alaska

The Gulf of Alaska rex sole stock is assessed every four years and was last assessed in 2017. In between the full assessment years, we present an executive summary to recommend harvest levels for the next two years. Please refer to the 2017 full stock assessment report for further information regarding the assessment model (McGilliard and Palsson, 2017, available online at https://www.afsc.noaa.gov/REFM/Docs/2017/GOArex.pdf). A full stock assessment document with updated assessment and projection model results will be presented in 2021. Rex sole is assessed using an age-structured model and Tier 3 determination within the context of a two-area model. The Western-Central GOA and Eastern GOA are modeled as separate areas with distinct growth patterns estimated by area. Thus, the single species projection model was run separately for the two areas using parameter values from the accepted 2017 rex sole assessment model (McGilliard and Palsson 2017), together with updated catch information for 2017-2018, to predict stock status for rex sole in 2019 and 2020 and to make ABC recommendations for those years. Projections are conducted using numbers-at-age for rex sole from age 3-20+ by area and historical recruitment of age 3 individuals by area to calculate OFL’s and ABC’s.

Stock Assessment