Project Information

Title: HRM Program: Surveys and Age, Sex, and Size Collection and Processing 20160111-F

Project Year and Number: 2020: 20160111-F

Other Fiscal Years and Numbers for this Project: 2024: 24160111-F , 2023: 23160111-F , 2022: 22160111-F , 2021: 21160111-F, 2019: 19160111-F, 2018: 18160111-F, 2017: 17160111-F, 2016: 16120111-F, 2016: 16160111-T, 2015: 15120111-F, 2014: 14120111-F, 2013: 13120111-F, 2012: 12120111-F

Principal Investigator (PI): Stormy Haught

Managing Agency: ADFG

Assisting Personnel: None

Project Website: https://pwssc.org/spawn-surveys-2/

Research Location: Prince William Sound

Restoration Category: Monitoring

Injured Resources Addressed: Pacific Herring

Abstract:

This project will continue to conduct spring aerial surveys to document Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) milt distribution and linear extent of milt over time and estimate herring biomass based on the surface area of herring schools seen from the air, as well as document the distribution and abundance of sea lions, other marine mammals, and birds associated with herring schools or spawn. This project will also continue to provide a research platform (R/V Solstice) for an adult herring acoustics survey and disease sample collection and processing. Finally, this project will continue to collect and process age, sex, and size samples of herring collected by the acoustics survey, spawning surveys, and the Prince William Sound (PWS) Herring Research and Monitoring program disease sampling. Aerial surveys for documenting herring milt and herring biomass and herring sampling for age, sex, and size data have been conducted since the early 1970s and contribute essential data to the age-structured model (ASA) used by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) and the Bayesian age-structured model (BASA) project supported by EVOSTC to estimate the historical and future biomass for fisheries management. This project will help to meet the overall program goal to improve predictive models of herring stocks through observations and research by providing necessary inputs to the age-structured assessment models of the ADF&G and the PWS Herring Research and Monitoring Program Bayesian model.


Proposal: View (1,202 KB)

Reports:
Annual Report: View (451 KB)
Final Report: See Project 21160111-F

Publications from this Project: None Available