Spatial variability in rockfish (Sebastes spp.) recruitment events in the California Current System

A general assumption regarding spatial patterns of recruitment variability is that species with similar early life history characteristics tend to covary in reproductive success over scales of 500–1000 km. These assumptions are based on evaluation of recruitments from independent stocks, as few studies have assessed synchrony in recruitment within broadly dispersed stocks over finer spatial scales. We used data on age composition and landings to generate regional time series of recruitment deviations for three species of rockfish in the California Current System (Sebastes goodei, Sebastes entomelas, and Sebastes flavidus). We then used correlation analysis, principal components analysis, and other methods to evaluate the degree of synchrony among recruitment events in these regions. Results show that 51%–72% of the year-to-year variability in recruitment is shared coastwide within these species, while a lesser but significant fraction of the variability is associated with finer scale geographic features.