2022 Pan-Pacific Winter High Seas Expedition

[wildmanyeah]

2022 Pan-Pacific Winter High Seas Expedition​

2022 Pan-Pacific Expedition

2022 Pan-Pacific Winter High Seas Expedition The largest pan-Pacific research expedition to study the winter ecology of salmon in the North Pacific Ocean Scientists from Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, and the United States continued their…

yearofthesalmon.org

 

[wildmanyeah]

I found this fascinating set 4 is the DNA from one catch, all coho caught on the same day in one big school in 2020.

 

[wildmanyeah]

Also an interesting slide from catches in 2019 and 2020

 

[Dave]

Very cool stuff!

 

[Sharphooks]

I’d really like to see the data on dissolved oxygen and Ph in the upper levels of the Gulf of AK and out towards the Aleutian Chain....there’s interesting correlations of a decrease in fish body sizes in response to decreased dissolved O2 concentrations: less dissolved O2, larger fish cannot properly maintain metabolic functions, resulting in selective pressures to reduce body size. This has already been documented in some fish species

 

[agentaqua]

I’d really like to see the data on dissolved oxygen and Ph in the upper levels of the Gulf of AK and out towards the Aleutian Chain....there’s interesting correlations of a decrease in fish body sizes in response to decreased dissolved O2 concentrations: less dissolved O2, larger fish cannot properly maintain metabolic functions, resulting in selective pressures to reduce body size. This has already been documented in some fish species

Here's the info a little closer to home:

 

[Sharphooks]

That’s interesting data but for research into D.O. levels that might effect migrating salmonids I would think you’d want to test zero down to 10 M rather then 125M?

 

[agentaqua]

That's DFO's data, SH. For the larger salmon - they can go down that deep and even deeper in the ocean (as I understand it) but are often limited in how deep they can go in many inlets due to the anoxic conditions they might encounter @ certain times of the year. They end up sandwiched down far enuff to get away from high surface temps, but above the anoxic layer. That changes where sporties find salmon when they troll in the inlets and closer to the coast. Taking water quality parameters down deep only makes sense because the oceanographic bunch in DFO are interested in how the whole inlet works - esp. when there are sills - and some inlets are deep. They pay for the boat to be there - so might as well take it as deep as you can (that's what she said anyways).

 

[wildmanyeah]

NOAA Bell M. Shimada

NOAA Bell M. Shimada National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Overview The NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada will be the U.S. research vessel contributing to the IYS 2022 Pan-Pacific Winter High Seas Expedition. The ship was commissioned in 2010 and is one of…

yearofthesalmon.org

February 26

We arrived on station at 50N, 151.5W shortly after midnight, and proceeded with our usual schedule of sampling. Jellyfish were very abundant near the surface at this station, so we did just a 30 minute tow to avoid ripping the net, and nonetheless caught a good pile of jellies, along with 4 sockeye and 1 chum salmon, our first of the trip. The chum had a deformed head– the upper jaw was short, giving it a massive underbite. It also bore fresh wounds, evidence of a recent attack by a North Pacific daggertooth (Anotopterus nikparini).

After grabbing a bit of sleep, we arrived at 49N, 151.5W for our second of three stations for the day. Sea surface temperatures are now above 6C and there are more signs of life at the surface, with several Laysan albatrosses and a few puffins on the water. Our two-hour trawl caught 12 salmon– 10 chum, a pink and a sockeye. The chum salmon looked thin, and had empty stomachs and enlarged gall bladders, suggesting they were struggling to find enough food. We are collecting samples to measure growth hormones when we return to land, which will tell us whether they are indeed growing slowly. Our plankton tows caught very little– a few large copepods and arrow worms, slim pickings for salmon.

We will head further south and sample at the 48S station this evening. Weather was Cloudy, calm winds, 12′ swell. Very early this morning we had some snow showers.

February 25

Last night we caught 7 sockeye at 52N, 147W, following a catch of three sockeye in the morning at 53N, 147W. Many of these fish again had enlarged, green gall bladders indicating poor feeding conditions, but the fish caught at night generally had stomachs stuffed with krill. It was too windy at these stations to effectively tow our plankton nets. Other things that have turned up in the trawl net include a juvenile prowfish, a lanternfish, and a few more lumpfish, along with the usual assortment of jellies and squid.

 

[Derby]

2022 Pan-Pacific Winter High Seas Expedition | NOAA Fisheries

Salmon on the High Seas: Unlocking the Mystery of Salmon in the North Pacific | NOAA Fisheries

 

[wildmanyeah]

 

[wildmanyeah]

The Raw Spirit has spent the first 10 days of fishing sampling the southern part of the study area. The focus was to sample stations that had been fished at night by the Sir John Franklin. Additionally we fished south of 47N as was planned pre survey. The weather prevented fishing on transect 141 O W but we are hopeful we will pick up some of these stations on our second leg of survey.

We fish a combination of gillnets and longlines each night with up to three sets in the water at any given time. Gear is all working well in fair seas and we are quickly learning what we can and cannot successfully fish in. In addition to the fishing we are conducting CTD and bongo at each station and eDNA is also collected.

To date the most abundant salmon have been Coho and Sockeye with 48 and 45 caught in the first 10 stations. Sockeye were predominantly north of 48 O N whereas Coho were predominantly south of 47O N. Coho are more commonly encountered and have been caught in 8 of the 10 stations fished.

The catch of chum salmon has been lower than expected with 19 caught to date. These have been encountered in small numbers throughout the survey and the majority of them are first ocean winter fish. We have caught only 9 pink salmon to date. In the previous surveys (2019 and 2020) chum and pink salmon were more abundant in daytime sets. We will therefore make time for some daytime fishing in coming days.

The catch of steelhead has been consistent with fish encountered in 8 of the 10 stations sampled and a total of 29 steelhead caught.

Other species encountered include Black Rockfish, Dogfish, longnose lancetfish, Salmon sharks (non have been landed) and squid (O. borealjaponica).

We will be headed in for fuel this weekend ahead of a nasty low that is approaching. Next week we will start sampling the northern portion of the study area.

 

[SpringVelocity]

What's going on with the chum? frightening.

 

[SpringFever552]

29 steelhead! Is this not an astronomical # compared to others?

 

[wildmanyeah]

29 steelhead! Is this not an astronomical # compared to others?

the other ones they never used a gilnet and fished deeper with the trawl net

 

[terrin]

29 steelhead! Is this not an astronomical # compared to others?

Not really sure how far out these guys get but one has to wonder what the illegal high seas drift net fisheries get. Saw a recent program on the mega billion dollar black market fishing going on all over the world mainly offshore of third world countries. Devastating and apparently with enough money tossed to local officials no one is even looking.

 

[wildmanyeah]

something I did not expect to see

 

[agentaqua]

that is a surprise, WMY. I see 3 options:
1/ This was a group of nearshore 3-spines that got washed out deep in a storm or something - but that is quite a ways out,
2/ This was a group of unknown 3-spines from off of an adjacent shallow seamount, or
3/ This is a group of unknown 3-spines that are pelagic verses benthic-oriented. If so, one would expect to see morphological differences such as larger fins, etc (as well as DNA).

DNA might sort these questions out...

 

[wildmanyeah]

April 3
https://yearofthesalmon.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Science-team-making-plans-for-the-survey.jpg
https://yearofthesalmon.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/DSC_0023-1-scaled.jpg
After a night and most of the day in transit we reach our first station, east of Unalaska Island. The weather changes by the minute heavy storm clouds, brilliant sunshine, heavy snowflakes, hail. And always waves. Snow each day. We are definitely still in winter. The first haul brought some unexpected returns. More than 100 three-spine sticklebacks and capelin as well.


April 8



https://yearofthesalmon.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/nw6.jpg
We awoke to a view of the Aleutian Islands in the far distance, emerging from the water as a white line of snow-capped peaks along what had been until now, a horizon devoid of land. Clam water. Light snow flurries in the morning gave way to bright sunshine. The weather to date has been a constant flux between sunshine and snow, with constant wind.
https://yearofthesalmon.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/WalleyePollock--scaled.jpg
https://yearofthesalmon.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Daggertooth--scaled.jpg
The morning haul was light, yielding a half-meter North Pacific daggertooth and a handful of three-spine sticklebacks. Daggertooth (Anotopterus spp.) are a genus of mesopelagic fish found in the oceans worldwide, but most prevalent in subarctic waters. These are ambush predators, able to dart quickly over short distances and predate on barracudina and immature salmon, their presence mostly detected through slash marks on juvenile salmon. Mid-day we initiated a second haul. This deep tow descended down to the deep-scattering layer, where we collected a haul of salps and several walleye pollock. The F/V Northwest Explorer earns its way on pollock, so these were familiar sight to the crew, though at several orders of magnitude less abundant than the typical haul. Our six fish at approximately 1.1 kg each equated to 6.4kg, compared to a maximum haul of 400 metric tons or 1 million pounds often landed on this vessel when engaged in fishing operations. This haul marked the 10th haul on the F/V Northwest Explorer.

 

[wildmanyeah]