North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission

Technical Report 15

Table of Contents

A Compound Specific Stable Isotope Analysis of Chinook Salmon Stocks Caught in the Northern and Southern Strait of Georgia

Authors:
Jacob E. Lerner and Brian P. V. Hunt

Abstract Excerpt:
Chinook Salmon are experiencing concurrent declines across their range (Irvine and Fukuwaka 2011). The situation is pronounced in British Columbia where fishery restrictions have been implemented to protect depleted local Chinook stocks. These stocks are critical to multiple stakeholders including resident killer whales, recreational and Indigenous fisheries (Riddell et al. 2013). Though the marine distribution and ecology of these stocks is poorly resolved, it is known that different stocks inhabit different regions of the NE Pacific, and that they may therefore be exposed to food webs of varying structure, prey biomass and nutritional quality (Weitkamp 2010; Miller et al. 2011; Shelton et al. 2018). Differences in regional food-web ecology and its impacts on Chinook salmon stocks are a significant unknown portion of Chinook life history (Riddell et al. 2018). This study aimed to sample Chinook salmon stocks captured from two regions of the BC Coast (Northern Vancouver Island and Southern Vancouver Island) and to use compound specific stable isotope analysis to investigate the food-web ecology of stocks in each region.

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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23849/npafctr15/134.135.

Citation

Lerner, J.E., and B.P.V. Hunt.  2019.  A compound specific stable isotope analysis of Chinook salmon stocks caught in the northern and southern Strait of Georgia.  N. Pac. Anadr. Fish Comm. Tech. Rep. 15: 134–135.  https://doi.org/10.23849/npafctr15/134.135.