Status review of Pacific hake, Pacific cod, and walleye pollock from Puget Sound, Washington

In response to a petition to list 18 species of marine fish in Puget Sound under the ESA (Wright 1999), NMFS initiated status reviews of seven of these species: Pacific hake, Merluccius productus (Ayres, 1855); Pacific cod, Gadus macrocephalus Tilesius, 1810; walleye pollock, Theragra chalcogramma (Pallas, 1815); Pacific herring, Clupea pallasi Valenciennes, 1847; brown rockfish, Sebastes auriculatus Girard, 1854; copper rockfish, S. caurinus Richardson, 1845; and quillback rockfish, S. maliger Jordan and Gilbert, 1880. NMFS formed a Biological Review Team (BRT), composed of scientists with expertise in one or more of these species, to conduct these status reviews. This report summarizes the biological and environmental information gathered in that process and the scientific conclusions reached by the BRT for Pacific hake, Pacific cod, and walleye pollock. Since these latter three species are members of the Order Gadiformes (Cohen et al. 1990, Robins et al. 1991, Eschmeyer 1998) they are jointly referred to as gadiforms throughout this document. This review is part of a larger effort by the National Marine Fisheries Service to complete status reviews for all seven of the petitioned species of marine fish in Puget Sound. 2001 NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) NWFSC (Northwest Fisheries Science Center) Library Public Domain 1861