The Alaska Catch Accounting System quantifies total catch to allow inseason monitoring and management of groundfish fisheries. Total catch means both catch that is retained and catch that is discarded. Estimates of total catch are used to manage limits.
The purpose of the Catch Accounting System (CAS) is to assess the amount and type of catch and bycatch in groundfish and halibut fisheries off Alaska. The CAS relies on both observer data and landings information to generate estimates of total groundfish catch, including at-sea discards, as well as estimates of prohibited species catch and other non-groundfish bycatch. Observer information, dealer landing reports (“fish tickets”), and at-sea production reports are combined to provide an integrated source for fisheries monitoring and inseason decision making. An important aspect of the CAS is to provide near real-time delivery of accurate data for Inseason Management decisions. To meet this objective, data from industry is reported through the Interagency Electronic Reporting System (also referred to as eLandings) and is fed into NOAA Fisheries database every half-hour. Data from observers are integrated into the Alaska Fisheries Science Center database as soon as they become available, and are incorporated into the CAS every night.
A detailed description of the current catch estimation methods was published by Cahalan et al. 2014 in NOAA Technical memorandum NMFS-AFSC-286. This publication provides an update to the description of the CAS procedures that was published by Cahalan et al. 2010 in NOAA technical memorandum NMFS-AFSC-205. Other references and studies to evaluate and improve the estimation methods used in the CAS, include:
Bering Sea snow crab support a valuable commercial fishery. Photo: NOAA Fisheries.
Alaska salmon troller Bay of Pillars in Chatham Strait. Credit: NOAA Fisheries
A Southeast Alaska trolling vessel. Credit ASMI
