North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission

Technical Report 17

Table of Contents

Patterns of Growth of the Pink Salmon Oncorhynchus gorbuscha in Year-Classes with Different Survival Rates during the Marine Life-history Phase

Authors:
Alexander M. Kaev and Vladimir I. Radchenko

Abstract Excerpt:
Catches of pink salmon Oncorhynchus gorbuscha off the eastern Sakhalin Island decreased almost threefold, from 93,181 metric tonnes (on average for 2001–2014) to 33,328 metric tonnes (on average for 2015–2019). This decrease became particularly pronounced in the dominant line of odd-numbered years: from 134,971 to 19,911 metric tonnes. A poor harvest did not meet the pre-season forecast and left fishermen disappointed. The search for the causes of a sharp pink salmon stock decline have become an urgent issue. First, it was found that pink salmon abundance decline could be caused by typhoons which led to spawning area destruction by floods and to high mortality of juvenile salmon entering the sea during storms (Kaev 2018). Then it was shown that the early temporal form of pink salmon abundance declined first, and this can serve as a precursor to the general reduction in pink salmon stocks (Kaev 2019). In this study, we analyze the growth patterns of pink salmon as one of the most important indicators of species’ response to changes in habitat conditions. It was previously believed that a study of growth helps to predict fish abundance variations (Dementyeva 1976).

*This is the first paragraph of an extended abstract. Download the full abstract below.

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23849/npafctr17/8.14.

Citation

Kaev, A.M., and V.I. Radchenko.  2021.  State of Canadian Pacific salmon in 2019 and 2020: patterns of growth of the pink salmon Oncorhynchus gorbuscha in year-classes with different survival rates during the marine life-history phase.  N. Pac. Anadr. Fish Comm. Tech. Rep. 17: 8–14.  https://doi.org/10.23849/npafctr17/8.14.