North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission

Highlights of the 2022 International Year of the Salmon Pan–Pacific Winter Expedition

Authors:
Laurie Weitkamp, Andrew Barclay, Richard J. Beamish, Maycira Costa, Ed Farley, Cameron Freshwater, Sara Gilk-Baumer, Caroline Graham, Kathrine Howard, Jackie King, Marta Konik, Jim Murphy, Chrys Neville, Evgeny A. Pakhomov, Vladimir Radchenko, Brian Riddell, Eric Rondeau, Mark Saunders, Aidan Schubert, Don Van Doornik, Bernard Yang, and Aleksey Somov

Abstract:
During February–April, 2022, an international fleet of five ships from the U.S., Canada, and Russia conducted a coordinated survey of Pacific salmon high seas habitats across 2.5 million km2 of the North Pacific Ocean. The goal was to document use of pelagic habitats by salmon during winter to understand factors regulating salmon survival. Across all ships, 2,364 Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) and steelhead trout (O. mykiss) were caught using surface trawls, gill nets, and longlines. Sockeye salmon (O. nerka), were the most abundant salmonid, followed by chum (O. keta), pink (O. gorbuscha), coho (O. kisutch), and Chinook (O. tshawytscha) salmon; steelhead trout were extremely surface-oriented and only caught with gill nets. Other commonly caught taxa included myctophids, gonatid squids, and jellyfish. Salmon showed species-specific patterns in many metrics, such as distributions and diets. Genetic data indicated that salmon originated from around the Pacific Rim and multiple stocks were typically caught together. Preliminary results from the 2022 expedition, combined with results from winter expeditions in 2019 and 2020 and historic data, begin to fill key knowledge gaps about salmon winter distributions and the pelagic ecosystems that support salmon on the high seas.

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23849/npafcb7/2ksd-00ig

Citation

Weitkamp, L., A. Barclay, R.J. Beamish, M. Costa, E. Farley, C. Freshwater, S. Gilk-Baumer, C. Graham, K. Howard, J. King, M. Konik, J. Murphy, C. Neville, E.A. Pakhomov, V. Radchenko, B. Riddell, E. Rondeau, M. Saunders, A. Schubert, D. Van Doornik, B. Yang, and A. Somov.  2024.  Highlights of the 2022 International Year of the Salmon Pan-Pacific Winter Expedition.  N. Pac. Anadr. Fish Comm. Bull. 7: 1–18.  https://doi.org/10.23849/npafcb7/2ksd-00ig