Science Sub-Committee and Working Groups

Science Sub-Committee (SSC)

The Science Sub-Committee (SSC) was established by CSRS in 1995. The SCC develops the NPAFC Science Plan and coordinates implementation of the plan. The SCC also provides strategic planning for scientific workshops and symposia.

SSC Terms of Reference

The SSC also coordinates cooperation with other international organizations, such as North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES), North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO), and others.

Current Chairperson: Aleksei Somov (Russia)

Current Members:
Canada: Jackie King
Japan: Shunpei Sato
Korea: Jong Kuk Choi
Russia: Aleksei Somov
USA: Ed Farley

Working Groups

There are three active working groups:
Working Group on Stock Assessment
Working Group on Salmon Marking
Working Group on Stock Identification

Working Group on Stock Assessment

The Working Group on Stock Assessment was established in 1995 to coordinate statistics and data analysis for assessments of Salmonid Stock Status.

WGSA Terms of Reference
Stock Assessment Expertise/Interests

Current Chairperson: Andrew Munro (USA)

Current Members:
Canada: Antonio Velez-Espino, Sue Grant, Michael O’Brien
Japan: Koh Hasegawa, Kentaro Honda, Hayato Saneyoshi, Hirokazu Urabe, Kyuji Watanabe
Korea: Jong Kuk Choi, Se Un Ki
Russia: Alexander Bugaev, Albina Kanzeparova, Alexei Somov
USA: Laurie Peterson, Neala Kendall, Kathrine Howard, Andrew Munro

Working Group on Salmon Marking

The Working Group on Salmon Marking was established in 1998 on ad hoc basis and was changed to a full working group in 1999. This working group was exclusively a forum for exchanging otolith marking plans, worked to reduce mark conflicts and duplicate marks, and managed the otolith mark library and database (housed at Alaska Department of Fish and Game). In 2016 the Working Group on Salmon Marking was merged with the Working Group on Salmon Tagging, and the new working group retained the name of Working Group on Salmon Marking. This working group is responsible for otolith marking and salmon tagging.

WGSM Terms of Reference

Current Chairperson: Dion Oxman (USA)

Current Members:
Canada: John Holmes, Chrys Neville
Japan: Miwa Yatsuya, Shunpei Sato, Daisuke Takasaki, Shigehiko Urawa
Korea: Jae Chan Choi, Se Hyeon Oh
Russia: Elena Akinicheva, Alexander Bugaev, Larisa Khovanskaya
USA: Lance Campbell, Dion Oxman

Working Group on Stock Identification

The Working Group on Stock Identification was established in 1999 on an ad hoc basis and was changed to a full working group in 2011. Its goals are to develop, standardize, and disseminate genetic and other databases among the Parties, to encourage the development of new genetic technologies, and to facilitate the dissemination of statistical techniques.

WGSI Terms of Reference — Baseline Development Team (BDT) Terms of Reference

Instruction of sampling salmon tissues for DNA stock identification: Click Here

Current Chairperson: Bill Templin (USA)

Current Members:
Canada: Eric Rondeau
Japan: Shigehiko Urawa, Shunpei Sato, Yuhei Ogura
Korea: Hae Ryeon Jeon
Russia: Alexander Bugaev
USA: Lisa Seeb, Bill Templin, Ken Warheit, Wes Larson, Sara Gilk-Baumer

Discontinued Working Groups

International Year of the Salmon Working Group – discontinued 2023

The International Year of the Salmon (IYS) is a plan and concept currently being explored by the NPAFC. The IYS (2018–2019) is conceived as an intensive burst of internationally coordinated, interdisciplinary, stimulating scientific research focused on salmon and their relation to people. New technologies, new observations, and new analytical methods, some developed exclusively during the IYS, will be focused on knowledge gaps that prevent a clear understanding of the future of salmon in a rapidly changing world.

IYS Working Group Terms of Reference

Chairperson: Mark Saunders (Canada)

Members:
Canada: Jackie King
Japan: Shunpei Sato, Shigehiko Urawa, Toshihiko Saito
Korea: Jong Kuk Choi, Young Jae Shin, Dong Wook Yang
Russia: Igor Melnikov, Alexey Somov
USA: Andy Gray, Dion Oxman, Ed Farley

Working Group on Salmon Tagging – discontinued 2016

The Working Group on Salmon Tagging (WGST) was established in 2007 to manage the INPFC-NPAFC salmon tagging and recovery database and to coordinate high seas tagging experiments. The INPFC and NPAFC member nations conducted salmon tagging experiments in high seas areas of the North Pacific Ocean and adjacent seas since the 1950s to investigate the ocean distribution and migration of salmon stocks. The salmon tagging and recovery database, which resulted from international cooperative research activities, can be useful towards conserving salmon stocks in the North Pacific ecosystem and linking population dynamics of salmon stocks with the ecosystem structure and function of the North Pacific.

WGST Terms of Reference

Chairperson: Shigehiko Urawa (Japan)

Members:
Canada: Mark Saunders
Japan: Shigehiko Urawa
Korea: Ju Kyoung Kim, Do Hyun Lee
Russia: Alex Bugaev, Max Koval
USA: Jeff Guyon, Dion Oxman, Robert Walker

BASIS Working Group (Bering-Aleutian Salmon International Survey) – discontinued 2015

The BASIS Working Group was established in 2001. Its task is to coordinate individual national BASIS research plans, draft an annual implementation plan, summarize BASIS results in an annual report, and prepare proposals for external funding.

BASIS Working Group Terms of Reference

Chairperson: Ed Farley (USA)

Members:
Canada: Marc Trudel
Japan: Tomonori Azumaya, Kentaro Morita, Toru Nagasawa, Shunpei Sato
Korea: Kwan Eui Hong, Ju Kyoung Kim
Russia: Olga Temnykh, Svetlana Naydenko, Alex Zavolokin
USA: Ed Farley, Jamal Moss, Kate Myers, Jim Seeb, Ken Warheit