The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has completed its first-ever stock assessment of California halibut. Completed in July 2011, the assessment examined two separate halibut stocks off the coast of California, with the boundary drawn at Point Conception. Funded by CDFW, the assessment was conducted under contract by Dr. Mark Maunder, an internationally recognized authority on fishery modeling. CDFW staff collaborated on the effort by providing numerous databases relative to the recent and historical monitoring of the commercial and recreational fisheries and from fishery-independent surveys. The final report was subject to an independent peer review before being released.