Identifying and Classifying Métiers for Groundfish on the US West Coast

There are over 100 species in the federally managed US West Coast groundfish fishery. Single-species management objectives based on proxies for the biomass corresponding to Maximum Sustainable Yield may therefore fail to fully capture this inherently multispecies fishery. We conducted a métier analysis of landings records using the Clustering LARge Applications (CLARA) algorithm and refined these clusters into métiers. Landings records from 2011-2023 were selected to represent trends in the fishery since the implementation of Individual Fishing Quotas in 2011. Gear and species were refined to select the species that combined to encapsulate 99% of the total ex-vessel revenue, resulting in 31 species and 12 gear types. Combinations of gear, landing month, and port were grouped into 17 unique clusters, which were subsequently combined into four métiers. The four identified métiers broadly represent the Pacific whiting midwater trawl fishery, the sablefish fish pot, longline, and setline fishery, the groundfish trawl fishery, and the flatfish trawl fisheries. The results allow us to view catch in the US West Coast groundfish fishery through a multispecies lens and serve as the foundation for future multispecies management.