The dataset is comprised of individual fish records from collections made during port sampling at Kodiak Alaska for the purpose of updating maturity estimates for selected GOA flatfish. The collections were made by an Alaska Fisheries Databank funded sampler. Sample preparation, ageing and histological determination of maturity state were completed by AFSC staff.

Counts of Steller sea lions pups, adults, and juveniles are used to monitor trends in the population and used in the development of population models.

This dataset contains detailed crab data collected from the 2012 NOAA/NMFS/AFSC/RACE crab-groundfish bottom trawl survey of the Chukchi Sea. 71 survey stations were successfully completed during the bottom trawl survey. The survey area extended north and east from the Bering Strait to Barrow Canyon, bounded to the west by the U.S.-Russia Maritime Boundary and east to the 10-m bathymetry limit along the Alaska coastline. Demersal populations were sampled by trawling at stations centered within 55.56 x 55.56 km (30 x 30 nautical miles) grid cells covering the survey area. 100% of the catch is sorted for commercially important crab species. Crabs are sorted by species and sex, and a sample is measured to the nearest millimeter to provide a size-frequency distribution (see note under use constraints for analyzing catches where crab were subsampled for measurement). Carapace width is measured for Tanner crabs, and carapace length is measured for king and hair crabs.

From 1994 through 2012 Tanner crab were identified as premolt, held through a molt, and then measured to determine growth per molt.

Aerial surveys of coastal Alaska are the primary method for estimating abundance of harbor seals. A particular challenge associated with aerial surveys of harbor seals is maintaining consistent spatial representation of haul-out locations (waypoints). In some cases, seals aggregate into a single large grouping at a particular area. In other cases, seals aggregate into several smaller groups spread over a particular area. To establish geo-spatial consistency, the Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) maintains a list of haul-out locations that represent known harbor seal aggregations in Alaska. Haul-out locations were identified through aerial survey efforts and historical knowledge. Locations are assigned a unique alphanumeric identifier, based on the survey unit they fall within, and the spatial data are provided in the geographic (epsg:4326) coordinate reference system. These haul-out locations are used to inform management decisions pertaining to coastal activities (presence/absence of seals in a particular area) and to facilitate AFSC field work that includes both aerial and vessel surveys. Haul-out locations are updated annually based on information obtained from aerial survey observations.

The Resource Assessment and Conservation Engineering Division (RACE) of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) conducts bottom trawl surveys to monitor the condition of the demersal fish and crab stocks of Alaska. These data include catch per unit effort for each commercially important crab species at a standard set of stations in the eastern Bering Sea. This is a subset of the main database. Excluded are certain non standard tows and other types of data collected other than species id, species size category, species catch per unit effort (number per square nautical mile), water temperature and depth.

The dataset is comprised of individual fish records from collections made during port sampling at Kodiak Alaska for the purpose of updating maturity estimates for selected GOA flatfish. The collections were made by an Alaska Fisheries Databank funded sampler. Sample preparation, ageing and histological determination of maturity state were completed by AFSC staff.