The sablefish has made a modest contribution to Oregon's commercial foodfish landings since the early part of this century, usually incidental to the halibut longline fishery. Trawl caught sablefish now dominate landings, but in recent years a pot fishery has developed off Astoria and Newport.
This issue of the PMFC bulletin centers on sablefish along the Pacific Coast, describing the fisheries of California, Oregon, and Washington. It also has the results of a racial study of Pacific Coast sablefish, and has the results of sablefish tagging experiments in California, Oregon, and Washington.