July 27, 2020
Scientists in our Auke Bay Laboratories are collaborating with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to study juvenile salmon in Southeast Alaska coastal waters.
Today we completed sampling the Stephens Passage stations a second time and the daily catch was within 15% of the first day, which helps confirm that we have a reasonably confident measure of juvenile salmon abundance in Stephens Passage. After completing Stephen passage stations and tending to a few jellyfish stings, we made our run to Icy Strait and anchored up at the Porpoise Islands, enjoying one of SE Alaska’s multi-colored sunsets.
Andrew currently manages the Salmon Ocean Ecology and Bycatch Analysis (SOEBA) sub-program (within the Ecosystem Monitoring and Analysis program). The central objective of SOEBA is to understand the relation between ocean conditions and the distribution, growth and recruitment of salmon and associated species of groundfish well enough to contribute to groundfish stock assessments and the management of salmon bycatch in groundfish fisheries.
Jim Murphy is a fisheries biologist with the Ecosystem Monitoring and Assessment Program. He studies salmon ecology. He also develops models to forecast Chinook salmon returns to the Yukon River and harvest models for Pink salmon. He serves on the U.S./Canada Yukon River Joint Technical Committee.
For two decades scientists have been studying salmon in the Gulf of Alaska. Surveys are important for forecast river returns and monitoring bycatch in other commercial fisheries.
