Maloney and Sigler: Age-specific movement patterns of Anoplopoma fimbria 
311 
A Eastern GOA outside waters 
Recovery age (yr) 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 2 
o-ioo - 
101-200 ■ 
O O o O o 
201-300 - 
o 
0 
o 
o 
o 
o 
301-500 - 
°00000 o o O o O O O 
501-700 - 
° OCXXIjoCDO o o o o o o 
701-1000 - 
O o OO ° o o o ° ° ° ° 
>1000 - 
o 
sz 
Q. 
<D 
Q 
8 Central GOA 
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 2 
0-100 
101-200 
° OOo ° o o oo ° 
201-300 
° OOOo O ° ° ° ° ° 
301-500 
° oQCOo ° o ° ° ° ° ° 
501-700 
o oQOOOO° 000 
701-1000 
o o o O O O O o 
>1000 
o 
Figure 4 
Tag recoveries from sablefish ( Anoplopoma fimbria) tagged as juveniles in 
(A) eastern Gulf of Alaska (GOA) outside waters and (B) central GOA, by 
age (years), depth (m), and area. The size of the circles is proportional to 
the number of recoveries and represents a range from (A) 1 to 15 recoveries 
and (B) 1 to 16 recoveries. 
Discussion 
Movement by depth and area with age 
Sablefish spend 1-2 years nearshore before moving onto 
the continental shelf where they reside as adults and 
spawn. In this study, the most common ages in the shal- 
lower depths were 3-4 years and in the deeper depths 
5-8 years, indicating that sablefish are younger on the 
continental shelf than on the continental slope. This 
result confirmed other sablefish age data that indicated 
that fewer sablefish older than 10 years are found on the 
continental shelf than on the continental slope ( Sigler et 
al., 1997). Concurrent with the offshore movement with 
age, many young fish from the eastern areas (British 
Columbia, eastern GOA) moved in a northerly and west- 
erly direction through the central GOA to the western 
areas (western GOA, Bering Sea, and Aleutian Islands). 
The simultaneous depth and area movements resulted in 
a general age distribution of younger fish in shallower 
water in the east, mid-age fish in middle depths in the 
west, and older fish in deeper waters on the return from 
western to eastern areas. 
Age pattern variability was high; there was a sub- 
stantial overlap of ages within and between depths 
and areas. For example, fish of ages 2-13 years were 
recovered in 101-200 m and fish aged 2-20 years were 
caught in 501-700 m. Likewise, fish of all ages from 3 
to 10 years were recovered in all areas except the Ber- 
ing Sea where the youngest fish recovered was 4 years 
old. However, the separation of ages by depth, although 
incomplete, was quite pronounced within some areas, 
most notably the eastern GOA outside and the central 
GOA (Fig. 4). In both of these areas the distribution of 
younger fish in shallower water and older fish in deeper 
water was evident and, taken together with the general 
