Relationship of age-0 pollock abundance and distribution around the Pribilof Islands, to other shelf regions of the eastern Bering Sea

We found densities of age-0 pollock near the Pribilof Islands to be generally higher than on the surrounding shelf, and higher or non-significantly different from the Inner Front. Through synthesis of our data and inferences of pollock growth and mortality, we estimate the Pribilof Islands region to have comprised 12.5% (1997), 53.7% (1998), and 24.7% (1999) of the total stock of age-0 pollock in the eastern Bering Sea. Since the Pribilof Islands region comprises only 14% of the total eastern Bering Sea area, evidence is given that a disproportionally large fraction of the age-0 pollock population inhabits the Pribilof Islands nursery.