The case of the shrinking Chinook

[wildmanyeah]

The paper

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/faf.12272/epdf

News coverage:

http://juneauempire.com/news/state/2018-03-04/case-shrinking-chinook

The case of the shrinking Chinook

 

[wildmanyeah]

Lots to unpack in this one.

https://www.newsdeeply.com/oceans/a...mon-are-vanishing-are-killer-whales-the-cause

The Largest Pacific Salmon Are Vanishing. Are Killer Whales the Cause?

 

[chris73]

I don't know but I can't see this as a driving factor. When pink salmon numbers were down last year, individual size was way up. That's because less pinks shared the groceries in the ocean. More food and fish will grow very large. What do Chinooks eat to grow large? Herring, pilchards, squids.... Herring stocks depressed, pilchards gone, squids .... I actually don't know how they do.

 

[wildmanyeah]

I don't know but I can't see this as a driving factor. When pink salmon numbers were down last year, individual size was way up. That's because less pinks shared the groceries in the ocean. More food and fish will grow very large. What do Chinooks eat to grow large? Herring, pilchards, squids.... Herring stocks depressed, pilchards gone, squids .... I actually don't know how they do.

pilchards (Sardine) historically have an inverse relation with anchovies. IE when anchovies are abundant, sardines are less so. Both species also spawn pelagic, So ocean currents play a huge roll.

Not sure about herring, It seems to me that its been recovering but the size of the Chinook has not.

No doubt that more food for them would help them grow thats for sure.

 

[wildmanyeah]

Shrinking salmon

https://craigmedred.news/2018/03/12/shrinking-salmon/