CONTENTS 



introduction , 1 



Purpose 1 



Environmental setting 1 



Methods 2 



Survey approach and rationale 2 



1976 survey area 4 



Vessels, timing of survey, and fishing gear 5 



Standard procedures at stations 6 



Sampling 7 



Initial handling of the catch 7 



Sorting and weighing the catch 7 



Subsampling for biological data 7 



Age determinations 7 



Analytical procedures 8 



Standardization of catches 8 



Catch per unit of effort 8 



Standing stock estimates 9 



Population numbers 10 



Population size composition 10 



Length-weight relationships 11 



Age composition and growth 11 



Reproductive condition 11 



Results 12 



Sampling 12 



Distribution of temperature 12 



General distributions of faunal abundance 15 



Sampling biases 15 



Overall catches 15 



Fish catches 20 



Invertebrate catches 21 



Relative importance of individual species 21 



Frequency of occurrence 21 



Relative abundance 22 



Species associations 31 



Procedures 31 



Results 32 



Distribution, abundance, and biological characteristics of principal fish populations 33 



Walleye pollock 33 



Yellowfin sole 49 



Rock sole 55 



Flathead sole 62 



Pacific cod 71 



Alaska plaice 82 



Greenland turbot 90 



Arrowtooth flounder 93 



Pacific halibut 101 



Longhead dab 104 



Other species 106 



Discussion 1 10 



Review of survey approach and findings 1 10 



Comparison of results between surveys 112 



Walleye pollock 1 14 



Yellowfin sole 116 



Rock sole 116 



Flathead sole 116 



Pacific cod 121 



Alaska plaice 121 



Other flounders 121 



Community structure 128 



in 



