Project Information

Title: Identification of Essential Habitat for Pacific Herring (Clupea Pallasi) in Sitka Sound for Comparison to Prince William Sound i.e. Source vs. Sink Habitat– Submitted under the BAA 080834

Project Year and Number: 2008: 080834

Other Fiscal Years and Numbers for this Project: 2007: 070834

Principal Investigator (PI): Heather Meuret-Woody (Sitka Tribe of Alaska)

Managing Agency: ADFG

Assisting Personnel: Nate Bickford

Research Location: Sitka Sound, Sitka Alaska, Southeast Alaska

Restoration Category: Research

Injured Resources Addressed: Pacific Herring

Abstract: Once herring hatch and the larvae drift to retention areas, they begin metamorphosis. As juveniles, herring forage in productive waters of the North Pacific. Adult herring then return to natal beaches to spawn. What is unknown is where the herring go and if certain regions contribute more to the spawning population. Once we know which population contributes more to the spawning groups, we can then identify those variables that enhance the life histories of the source population. We can identify these groups and track their movements using otolith chemistry. The adult herring that return to spawn are the survivors. If most of the survivors come from a distinct population, then we need to know which population survive and why. This will allow managers to protect the most important populations and also identify those environmental variables needed to enhance other populations.


Proposal: View (3,164 KB)

Reports:
Annual Report FY08: View (361 KB)
Final Report: View (427 KB)

Publications from this Project: None Available

Datasets:
EVOSTC Data Archive: metadata submitted 6/30/09, awaiting dataset dataset received on 7/6/09