Seasonal habitat use and productivity of three commercially important Rockfish species in the Gulf of Alaska, 2012-2014

This study examined the value of bare, high relief rocky/boulder, and high relief coral habitat for three commercially important rockfish species. The density of rockfish found within these habitats was investigated as well as pelagic prey availability, diet content, reproductive productivity, and energetic content of these fishes. The contribution of specific habitat types to the productivity of many rockfish species within the Gulf of Alaska remains poorly understood. The study area for this project was in the Albatross Bank region of the Gulf of Alaska where samples were collected using both drop camera image analysis and modified bottom trawls. We utilized an underwater stereo drop camera (SDC) system to examine habitat associations, community structure and density within these areas and bottom trawl to collect biological samples. In order to examine differences in diet diversity, energetic content and reproductive success; stomach, ovary, and whole fish samples were collected at each habitat within each sampling site. Data in this collection include energetic content, diet diversity, zooplankton type, trawl tow statistics, reproductive productivity, video (density of species) and an analysis of rockfish parts.

Data are presented as eight CSV files:

Energetic_Data.csv
Diet_Data.csv
Zooplankton_Data.csv
Trawl_Data.csv
Reproduction_Data.csv
Video_Species_Data.csv
Parts_Data.csv