Continue development of the SPEM IBM model. Bering Sea FOCI Summarize and publish results on the central basin and slope. Produce a report on stock structure of walleye pollock. Conduct observations at habitats on the outer and middle southeastern Bering Sea shelf using ships and oceanographic moorings. Formulate a research strategy for the next 5 years.
Recruitment is the process by which young fish are added to the adult or fished stock.
FOCI directly supports NOAA's Strategic Plan to build sustainable fisheries. Research has been conducted in support of the paradigm that recruitment variations are largely a result of events during early life history, i.e., when pollock are larvae and juveniles. Our understanding of processes affecting recruitment has advanced to the degree that for the past 2 years FOCI provided U.S. fishery management with recruitment information for establishing pollock fishing quotas in the Gulf of Alaska. Recent observations of recruitment to the 1989 and 1990 year-classes verify the initial FOCI prediction. In fall 1994, FOCI again will supply estimates of pollock recruitment for the Gulf of Alaska.