Pacific Ocean Perch

Latin Name

Sebastes alutus

Group Name

Pelagics

Taxonomy details

Habitat

Pacific Ocean perch are a species of rockfish native to the Pacific Ocean. Along the west coast of North America they are distributed from California in the south to the Bering Sea in the north, and are often found near the walls of underwater canyons. They inhabit depths ranging from about 40 to 600 metres.

Species Description

Pacific Ocean perch have a short, laterally compressed body that tapers toward their tail starting about midway down their length. They have a large mouth with a protruding lower jaw. They have several sharp dorsal spines immediately followed by a flat dorsal fin and a tail with a slight indent. Pacific Ocean perch are bright red, mixed with blotches of olive. They grow to a maximum length of around 50 centimetres and weigh 0.5-1.4 kilograms. Pacific Ocean perch can live for as long as a century.

Pacific Ocean Perch (Sebastes alutus) dominates the rockfish catch in Canada's Pacific groundfish trawl fishery. This long-lived species, commonly called POP, inhabits the sloping walls of marine canyons along the coast of British Columbia (BC) in association with many other rockfish species. POP has an important economic and cultural impact on smaller BC communities like Prince Rupert.

Publications

• Schnute, J. T., R. Haigh, B. A. Krishka, and P. Starr. 2001. Pacific ocean perch assessment for the west coast of Canada in 2001 (CSAS resdocs - 2001/138). Can. Sci. Ad. Sec. Res. Doc. 2001/138. 90 p.
• Schnute, J. T. and R. Haigh. 2000. Estimating stock biomass from tow-by-tow data for Pacific groundfish (CSAS resdocs - 2000/155). Canadian Stock Assessment Secretariat Research Document 2000/155. 32 p.
• Schnute, J. T., N. Olsen, and R. Haigh. 1999. Slope rockfish assessment for the west coast of Canada in 1999 (CSAS resdocs - 1999/184). Canadian Stock Assessment Secretariat, Research Document 99/184. 104 p.
• Schnute, J. T., N. Olsen, and R. Haigh. 1999. Slope rockfish assessment for the west coast of Canada in 1998 (CSAS resdocs - 1999/016). Canadian Stock Assessment Secretariat, Research Document 99/16. 79 p.
• Richards, L. J., N. Olsen, J. T. Schnute, and R. Haigh. 1997. Slope rockfish stock assessment for the west coast of Canada in 1997 and recommended yield options for 1998 (CSAS resdocs - 1997/147). Canadian Stock Assessment Secretariat, Research Document 97/147, 61 p.
• Richards, L. J., J. T. Schnute, and N. Olsen. 1997. Visualizing catch-age analysis: a case study. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 54: 1646-1658.
• Richards, L. J. and N. Olsen. 1996. Slope rockfish stock assessment for the west coast of Canada in 1996 and recommended yields for 1997. Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 2134. 91 p.
• Richards, L. J. 1993. Slope rockfish assessments for 1993 and recommended yield options for 1994. PSARC Working Paper G93-8. 63 p.
• Richards, L. J. 1994. Slope rockfish assessments for 1994 and recommended yield options for 1995. PSARC Working Paper G94-9. 25 p.
• Richards, L. J. 1995. Slope rockfish assessments for 1995 and recommended yield options for 1996. PSARC Working Paper G95-9. 35 p.