North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission

Technical Report 20

International Year of the Salmon 2022 Pan-Pacific Winter High Seas Expedition Hybrid Preliminary Results Meeting Summary

Editors:
Skip McKinnell, Aidan Schubert, and Polina Orlov

Summary:
On October 2–3, 2022, scientists from across the North Pacific met to discuss preliminary results from the International Year of the Salmon (IYS) 2022 Pan-Pacific Winter High Seas Expedition. The Expedition took place between February and April of 2022 and involved five research vessels sampling a total of 131 stations, covering 2.5 million km2 in the Central and Eastern North Pacific Ocean. The Expedition was coordinated by the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC), with support from partners from its five member countries (Canada, Japan, Korea, Russia, and USA). The Expedition sought to complete a full ecosystem survey of the North Pacific Ocean in winter to better understand the winter high seas phase of the Pacific salmon lifecycle and to demonstrate the ability to effectively collaborate across the five NAPFC member countries. In-person participants met on the unceded and ancestral territory of the the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, Canada while virtual participants joined via videoconferencing technology, with communication between virtual and in-person participants enabled. The purposes of the meeting were to: (1) present and discuss Expedition preliminary results, (2) identify and discuss key knowledge gaps, and (3) identify and discuss the kinds of scientific products and datasets that might arise from the Expedition. A total of 87 people from Canada, USA, Japan, and Russia attended the meeting (either virtually or in-person), representing government, academia, and non-government organizations. Results presented covered the fields of physical and biological oceanography, genetic stock identification, hydroacoustics, primary productivity and remote sensing, microplastics, salmon diets, environmental DNA (eDNA), salmon otoliths and scales, food webs, ocean chemistry and trawl studies and blood insulin growth factor (IGF). The meeting was chaired by Mark Saunders, Dr. Skip McKinnell was the meeting rapporteur and meeting support was provided by Aidan Schubert and William Stanbury.

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23849/XGMK2041

Citation

McKinnell, S., A. Schubert, and P. Orlov (Editors).  2023.  International Year of the Salmon 2022 Pan-Pacific Winter High Seas Expedition Hybrid Preliminary Results Meeting summary.  N. Pac. Anadr. Fish Comm. Tech. Rep. 20.  52 pp.  https://doi.org/10.23849/XGMK2041