Short communicationFirst results of the tagging of shortspine thornyhead, Sebastolobus alascanus, in Alaska

- Total of 13,897 tagged shortspine thornyhead have been released, 228 have been recovered.
- Shortspine thornyhead can travel large distances; 11% recovered >100 nm from release location.
- A small number of tagged shortspine thornyhead crossed management and international boundaries.
- 20 (9%) of the 228 recovered tagged of shorspine thornyhead were recaptured in British Columbia, Canada.
- The current geographic scale of management in Alaska for shortspine thornyhead appears to be appropriate.

Shortspine thornyhead (Sebastolobus alascanus) is a commercially valuable deep dwelling rockfish species that has been tagged in Alaska waters since 1992. These tagging results are the primary analyses available for evaluating the movement of this species, which will allow managers to determine the appropriate geographic scale of management. A total of 13,897 tagged fish have been released, with 228 recoveries reported during 1992-2016. Of the returned tags, 19% traveled <2 M (nm) between tagging and recovery location, 36% traveled 2-5 nm, 18% traveled 6-10 nm, 12% traveled 11-50 nm, 4% traveled 51-100 nm, and 11% traveled >100 nm. While a small percentage of tagged shortspine thornyhead traveled large distances, at times crossing management and international boundaries, the low movement rate indicates that the current scale of management for shortspine thornyhead rockfish in Alaska appears to be appropriate.