Summer and winter expeditions of up to five research ships are being planned in the North Pacific high seas to provide estimates of salmon spawning stock recruitment for three to four age cohorts of chum and sockeye salmon.
The expeditions, announced by the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission, are a signature project of the NPAFC’s International Year of the Salmon Initiative, in partnership with the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization.
The goal is for data gathered on these expeditions to be utilized for fishery forecasting in subsequent years. Dick Beamish, an internationally recognized scientist for his work on conservation of salmon in the marine phase of their life history, has already raised over $1 million toward chartering a Russian research vessel. NPAFC has also made requests for ship time from partners in Canada, Japan, Korea and the United States.
The International Year of the Salmon technical team met in the offices of the National Marine Fisheries Service in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in mid-December, to develop discussion documents for meeting agendas for the North Pacific and North Atlantic steering committees and the coordinating committee. The three committees are slated to meet in the next few days.
More about these expeditions and other wild salmon research issues are included in NPAFC’s January newsletter. It can be found online at http://www.npafc.org/new/pub_newsletter.html
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