North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission

Technical Report 19

The Status and Trends of Pacific Salmon and Steelhead Trout Stocks with Linkages to their Ecosystem

Authors:
North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (in alphabetical order)

Alexander V. Bugaev, Jong Kuk Choi, Sue C.H. Grant, Koh Hasegawa, Kentaro Honda, Kathrine G. Howard, Albina Kanzeparova, Neala W. Kendall, Na Ri Kim, Tor Kitching, Denis Kotsiuk, Chung Il Lee, Andrew R. Munro, Polina Orlov, Laurie Peterson, Hayato Saneyoshi, Aidan Schubert, Alexey Somov, Hirokazu Urabe, Mark Winston, and Antonio Vélez-Espino

Preface:
The Working Group on Stock Assessment (WGSA) has worked collaboratively and creatively over the past two years to produce the 2023 report on the status of North Pacific salmon and steelhead trout. The WGSA considers that this report not only meets the Group’s Terms of Reference but is particularly timely given the increasing environmental variability that salmon are experiencing across their entire range. We also agreed that describing catch trends alone, as in previous WGSA reports, was no longer sufficient, because catch statistics can mask underlying trends within and among salmon populations, species, and geographic areas. Unable to meet in person since 2019, we had to be innovative, working via e-mail and periodic virtual small group meetings among the many contributors to complete this comprehensive report on salmon status in the North Pacific. We are thankful for the financial support of the NPAFC that helped fund these creative working modalities.

The WGSA and the report benefited from the assistance provided by many whose help made this report possible. We thank NPAFC and International Year of the Salmon (IYS) staff for coordination, writing support and administration including Aidan Schubert, Tor Kitching, Polina Orlov, Jennifer Chang, and Jeongseok Park. We also appreciate the feedback from science communicator Dr. Mark Winston (Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, Simon Fraser University) who assisted with developing our consultative process and edited e-mail communications, templates, country contributions and the report. Translation support for WGSA e-mails and virtual meetings was essential, provided through the generosity of Vladimir Radchenko (NPAFC), Jeongseok Park (NPAFC), and Toshihide Hamazaki (Alaska Department of Fish and Game). Finally, we thank the many others who assisted WGSA members with gathering and providing the information and data used in this report and assistance with writing and editing sections of the species status and summaries.

We also thank the many individuals who provided data, information, writing, and editorial support to the WGSA country leads responsible for coordinating this report. From Fisheries and Oceans Canada, we thank Norah Brown, Pieter Van Will, Howard Stiff, Joel Sawada, Laura Tessier, and Katie Davidson. From Alaska Department of Fish and Game, we thank Kathrine Howard, Ben Gray, Ed Jones, Justin Priest, Dion Oxman, and Kevin McNeel. We thank Tim Copeland and Alan Byrne from Idaho Department of Fish and Game and Cassandra Leeman and Adam Storch from Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. From Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency, we thank Sho Fukui.

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23849/LOEX7610

Citation

North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission.  2023.  The status and trends of Pacific salmon and steelhead trout stocks with linkages to their ecosystem.  N. Pac. Anadr. Fish Comm. Tech. Rep. 19.  256 pp.  https://doi.org/10.23849/LOEX7610