The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released their annual stock assessment report today. While the East Coast continues to struggle with overfishing, commercial stocks in the Pacific Ocean remain abundant and healthy overall.

Alaska’s stocks seem to be in particularly good shape by comparison. NOAA lists 40 stocks as subject to overfishing, and not one of those is in Alaska waters. Only three stocks in the Pacific Ocean are being harvested in excess right now, all tuna species.

Additionally, only two Alaskan species are considered to already be overfished: the blue king crab stock in the Pribilof Islands and the Tanner crab stock in the southern Bering Sea. Management of the stocks has been strict in an effort to help the population bounce back.

Also, while southern tanner crab is listed as an overfished species because of its low biomass, NOAA scientists say that it’s not clear that commercial fishing is necessarily responsible for the stock’s decline. They now believe that environmental factors were more likely the cause for the drop.

The data used in this report goes through the end of 2010.