NOAA Protocols for Fisheries Acoustics Surveys and Related ...

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AFSC
The Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) conducts acoustic-trawl surveys in the Bering
Sea and Gulf of Alaska. The target species is walleye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma).
Surveys are conducted aboard the NOAA Ship Miller Freeman and, beginning in 2005, the
NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson. Field seasons include approximately six weeks in the winter and
three months in the summer. Abundance–at-age estimates from these surveys, along with
bottom trawl survey data and fishery catch data, are used to model population size, and, in turn,
to establish quotas for the commercial fishing industry under the auspices of the North Pacific
Fishery Management Council. The acoustics group within the Midwater Assessment and
Conservation Engineering (MACE) Program is comprised of eleven fisheries biologists and three
information technology specialists. All employees are full-time and base-funded.
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