Fishing Effort in the 2002–21 U.S. Pacific Coast Groundfish Fisheries

Groundfish is a term that includes dozens of ocean-dwelling fish, including species of sharks, skates, flatfish, and rockfish. Groundfish live off the entire U.S. West Coast, from Canada to Mexico, in environments from the nearshore to over 1,000 fathoms deep. Unfortunately, many groundfish species were overfished in the 1980s and ’90s, leading to a plan for fishery management that first went into effect in 1982. NOAA Fisheries has since declared all overfished groundfish, except yelloweye rockfish, rebuilt. The Northwest Fisheries Science Center helps the Pacific Fishery Management Council make management decisions for groundfish on the Pacific Coast. One way we do that is by providing data on how many are caught each year. Our data come from direct observation, electronic monitoring, and fish sales information. In this report, we focus on trends in fishing effort, in part to help evaluate how the catch shares program (implemented in 2011) may impact endangered species in Pacific Coast fisheries. This report is updated every two years. Here we add the years 2020 and 2021 to the time series.