North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission

Technical Report 11

Table of Contents

Status Overview for Pacific Salmon Populations in the Eastern North Pacific Ocean

Authors:
James R. Irvine, Andrew R. Munro, William Templin, Mary Thiess, Sue Grant, and Erik Neatherlin

Abstract Excerpt:
Pacific Salmon in the eastern North Pacific (Fig. 1), dominated by Chum, Pink, and Sockeye Salmon, are at relatively high levels in terms of numbers and biomass, although there is evidence of recent declines (Fig. 2, Ruggerone and Irvine 2018). To assess the status of salmon in this region we assembled information gathered by American and Canadian researchers. In the US, salmon are primarily managed to provide sustained yield; spawner escapement goals are set for stocks, or aggregates of stocks, for each species within geographic areas. The proportion of stocks within an area that achieve these goals provides an indication of status for that return year. In Canada, salmon are primarily assessed as individual or aggregates of Conservation Units (CUs), which are genetically or ecologically distinct groups of salmon. CU-specific biological benchmarks, based primarily on salmon abundance and distribution delimit three biological status zones: green (healthy status), amber (intermediate) and red (poor). Here we describe the biological status of each of the five major species in the US and Canada, provide information on changes in fish size and age composition if noteworthy, and comment on possible reasons for recent changes.

*This is the first paragraph of an extended abstract. Download the full abstract below.

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23849/npafctr11/1.7

Citation

Irvine, J.R., A.R. Munro, W. Templin, M. Thiess, S. Grant, and E. Neatherlin.  2018.  Status overview for Pacific salmon populations in the eastern north Pacific Ocean.  N. Pac. Anadr. Fish Comm. Tech. Rep. 11: 1–7.  https://doi.org/10.23849/npafctr11/1.7