Project Information

Title: Assessing Prey and Competitor/Predators of Pink Salmon Fry 01452-BAA

Project Year and Number: 2001: 01452-BAA

Other Fiscal Years and Numbers for this Project: None

Principal Investigator (PI): Dick Thorne (Prince William Sound Science Center)

Managing Agency: NOAA

Assisting Personnel: Gary Thomas

Research Location: Prince William Sound

Restoration Category: Research

Injured Resources Addressed: Commercial Fishing, Pink Salmon, Subsistence

Abstract: Research suggests that macro zooplankton and adult walleye pollock densities are the primary biological forcing variables affecting pink salmon fry survival. A program to make these estimates was initiated in spring 2000 by a partnership of organizations including the Oil Spill Recovery Institute, Sound Emergency Response Vehicle System, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. This project will expand this effort to provide data on annual and seasonal variation of predators and food availability for juvenile pink salmon and to interact with Project 01195/Pristane Monitoring, which is studying the use of pristane concentrations in mussels to estimate pink salmon fry survival.


Proposal: View (321 KB)

Information and/or Products produced by this project:
Title Description Type Document(s)
Effectively Addressing Ecosystem Understanding Abstract - There is increasing awareness of the need for “ecosystem-based” management, but insufficient recognition that the underlying limitations of current fisheries and ocean policy are centered on inadequate observational science. Fisheries management has relied on models based on fishery-dependent data and far too limited real-world verification... Additional Report View (175 KB)
Acoustic monitoring of the juvenile pink salmon food supply Abstract - Previous research has indicated that juvenile pink salmon survival in Prince William Sound is positively correlated with the abundance of the large-bodied copepods of the genus Neocalanus. Neocalanus serves both as a valuable food supply for the juveniles and as a prey-sheltering mechanism. In spring 2000, the Prince William Sound Science Center initiated annual monitoring of the spring abundance and distribution of both macrozooplankton and fish predator populations. The monitoring includes multiple frequency acoustic systems and zooplankton net tows. The program has now completed five years of measurements, and there have been four associated adult pink salmon returns. Pink salmon returns were found to be positively correlated with average plankton net catches of both large copepods and euphausids in the nursery year. Some data gaps prevented correlation between acoustic scattering and pink salmon returns, but both 420 kHz and 120 kHz backscatter were positively correlated with the plankton net catches of large copepods. The acoustic data also allowed detailed examination of the spatial trends of the plankton distribution. Patchiness was relatively low, which may explain why the net catches seemed to provide a reasonable measure of overall abundance. Some changes in the monitoring procedures may be necessitated by the indication that euphausid abundance may also be an important factor in pink salmon survival. Additional Report View (349 KB)
Monitoring Pacific Herring Abundance Abstract - The Prince William Sound Science Center has monitored the abundance of Pacific herring in Prince William Sound, Alaska, since 1993. The effort has expanded in the past three years because of the critical role of herring as winter-period forage for the endangered Steller sea lions. The new effort includes more seasonal coverage in Prince William Sound and expansion to herring populations around Kodiak Island. While acoustic applications for Pacific herring are well developed, species information has required expensive direct capture techniques. In the past three years, underwater cameras have been used for species identification. This application has become very effective both for identification and information on school structure and behavior. Additional Report View (380 KB)

Reports:
Final Report: View (3,230 KB)

Publications from this Project: None Available