Resident and Dispersal Behavior of Adult Sablefish (Anaplopoma fimbria) in the Slope Waters off Canada's West Coast

Abstract

A total of 72 735 adult sablefish (Anaplopoma fimbria) were tagged and released off the west coast of Canada from 1977 to 1982. As of December 31, 1985, 11 212 (15%) have been recaptured or 16 539 (23%) when recaptures were standardized for differences in recovery effort and unreported recaptures. Off Vancouver Island, relatively few sablefish moved more than 200 km. More movement occurred in Queen Charlotte Sound and off the Queen Charlotte Islands. Thirteen percent of recaptures were made in the United States zone and 96% of these were made in waters off Alaska. Movement was not related to length, age, or sex of adult fish. There was also no relationship between time at liberty and distance travelled; however, there was a trend to move out of the release area with time at liberty. In general, most adults remained within the release area. This resident behavior could result in overfishing because recruitment is dependent on occasional strong year-classes rather than movement from other areas.