Avoid Yelloweye Rockfish

Posted:  June 4, 2002

Avoid Yelloweye Rockfish! Description Distribution Fishery Assessment and management Current efforts to protect yelloweye rockfish Glossary Other resources Footnotes Article: New Information on West Coast Groundfish May Lead to Significant Cuts in Several Fisheries

Yelloweye rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus) were declared overfished in 2002. New, preliminary information shows that there is a risk that all bottom fishing on the continental shelf where yelloweye rockfish reside may need to be closed or modified in the near future to protect yelloweye.

Rebuilding yelloweye will be both slow and expensive.  Even under zero fishing pressure, the predicted time required to rebuild yelloweye is at least several decades (1).

Shifts in fishing effort to nearshore and slope areas are likely to worsen overcapacity problems in these fisheries, creating greater challenges for successful rebuilding of darkblotched rockfish and Pacific ocean perch, which are also considered overfished.  This is likely to have severe economic consequences for all segments of the commercial and recreational fishing and support industries.

The Council and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) are asking recreational and commercial fishers to voluntarily avoid bottom fishing in yelloweye rockfish habitats.  This includes avoiding bottom fishing in waters off Washington bounded by the following latitude/longitude coordinates:

These and other areas where yelloweye rockfish are caught should be avoided to reduce the chance of killing yelloweye rockfish that are caught accidentally.

Description

Due to their large size and fillet quality, yelloweye rockfish are a highly prized species in both commercial and recreational fisheries.  Adults have an orange-yellow color washed with pink on the back and sides (see Figure 1).  Their fins are shaded pink, often with black on the tips.  As they mature, their coloration changes dramatically. Juveniles have two pale stripes running along their sides (see Figure 2), while adults have only one pale stripe that may disappear altogether in the oldest individuals.  Yelloweye have a varied diet of forage fish, other rockfishes, crustaceans, and have been known to eat lingcod spawn.

Distribution

Yelloweye rockfish are distributed along the West Coast from Ensenada, Baja California to the Gulf of Alaska.  They frequent rugged, rocky habitats and have been found at depths between 15 and 550 m.  Yelloweye are large (up to 91 cm), long-lived (up to 118 years), late maturing, and relatively sedentary (they tend to stay in one place, and do not appear to migrate).  These traits make them particularly vulnerable to overfishing.  However, there is no evidence that yelloweye in different areas come from different gene pools.

Fishery

Historically, yelloweye were taken by trawl, line and sport gear.  Trawl catches of yelloweye have been reduced by the small footrope restrictions put in place on the shelf since 2000, which keep trawlers out of most yelloweye habitat.   Yelloweye are still taken with line gear, but are now much less common in bottom trawl catches.   Yelloweye that are brought to the surface tend to die of decompression and temperature shock.  According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, rockfish can suffer decompression injuries when brought to the surface from depths greater than 10 fathoms.

Assessment and management

A yelloweye rockfish stock assessment, which incorporated data from northern California and Oregon, was done for the first time in 2001 (2) (Wallace 2001).  The assessment concluded that current yelloweye stock biomass is about 7% of unexploited biomass (the average stock size if there was no fishing) in northern California, and 13% of unexploited biomass in Oregon.  The assessment showed a 30-year decline in stocks in both areas, with the last above-average recruitment occurring in the late 1980s.  These biomass levels are well below the 25% of unexploited biomass threshold at which a stock is labeled “overfished.” As a result, yelloweye were separated from the rockfish complexes in which they were previously listed (3).  As with other overfished stocks, yelloweye harvest will be tracked separately beginning in 2002.

Current efforts to protect yelloweye rockfish

A formal rebuilding analysis and plan for yelloweye rockfish has not yet been developed.  In November 2001, the Council adopted a total catch optimum yield (OY) of 13.5 metric tons (mt) coastwide for yelloweye in 2002.  This level allows other fisheries to take place and potentially catch yelloweye along with other fish, but it does not allow fisheries that target yelloweye.  This interim level may not allow yelloweye to be rebuilt within the time limits specified by the Magnuson-Stevens Act.  The Council will determine rebuilding measures later this year and will adopt consistent harvest levels for 2003 fisheries at the September Council meeting.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has already prohibited retention of yelloweye rockfish in Washington recreational fisheries.  The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the California Department of Fish and Game have a daily bag limit of one yelloweye rockfish, with no more than two yelloweye allowed per day per vessel in California.  Commercial retention of yelloweye rockfish is not allowed except for a small 300-pound trip limit in the trawl fishery so that yelloweye that are landed dead may be retained.  These measures may still not be enough to rebuild yelloweye rockfish.

For more information, see our press release, "New Information on West Coast Groundfish May Lead to Significant Cuts in Several Fisheries."

Glossary

(adapted from the FAO Fisheries Glossary and other sources)

Biomass.  The total weight of a group (or stock) of fish.

Optimum yield (OY).  The amount of fish that will provide the greatest overall benefit to the Nation, particularly with respect to food production and recreational opportunities, and taking into account the protection of marine ecosystems. The OY is developed on the basis of the maximum sustained yield from the fishery, taking into account relevant economic, social, and ecological factors. In the case of overfished fisheries, the OY provides for rebuilding to a level that is consistent with producing the maximum sustained yield for the fishery.

Overcapacity.  A level of fishing pressure that threatens to reduce a stock or complex below the abundance necessary to support maximum  sustainable yield and allow an economically sustainable fishing industry.

Overfishing.  A level or rate of fishing mortality that threatens the long-term ability of a stock or complex to produce the maximum sustained yield on a continuing basis.  Stocks are declared overfished by the National Marine Fisheries Service.  The Council-adopted threshold for delaring a groundfish stock overfished is 25% of unexploited biomass.

Rebuilding.  Taking action to allow a depleted stock to grow back to an abundance that supports maximum sustainable yield (more than 40% of unexploited biomass).

Recruitment.  The number of fish added to the exploitable stock, in the fishing area, each year, through a process of reproduction, growth (i.e. the fish grows to a size where it becomes catchable) or migration (i.e. the fish moves into the fishing area).

Other resources:

Wallace, Farron R.  2001.  Status of the Yelloweye Rockfish Resource in 2001 for Northern California and Oregon Waters.  Appendix to the Status of the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Through 2001 and Acceptable Biological Catches for 2002.  Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation.  (In press).  Pacific Fishery Management Council, Portland, OR. Online at http://www.wa.gov/wdfw/fish/rockfish/yelloweye.htm

Footnotes

1.  Preliminary data based on the initial draft rebuilding analysis for Groundfish Management Team review.

2.  The northern California assessment used catch per unit of effort (CPUE) indices constructed from Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistical Survey sample data, and California Department of Fish and Game data collected on board commercial passenger fishing vessels.  The Oregon assessment used Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife sampling data.

3.  Previously, yelloweye were listed in the “remaining rockfish” complex on the shelf in the Vancouver, Columbia, and Eureka INPFC areas and the “other rockfish” complex on the shelf in the Monterey and Conception areas.