Content Details
Arctic Ecosystem Integrated Survey Final Report on Distribution of Fish, Crab, and Lower Trophic Communities in the Northeastern Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea
- Branch
- Executive
- Category
- Executive Agency Publications
- SuDoc Class Number
- I 72.
- Government Author
- Interior Department, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
- Personal Author
- Mueter FJ; Weems J; Farley EV; Kuletz K; Lauth RR; Sigler MF
- Series Title
- BOEM Environmental Studies
- Publication Title
- Arctic Ecosystem Integrated Survey Final Report on Distribution of Fish, Crab, and Lower Trophic Communities in the Northeastern Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea
- Date Issued
- 2017
- Subject
- Fisheries and Aquaculture
Fish & Essential Fish Habitat
Integrated Ecosystem Survey; Arctic cod ; saffron cod; snow crab
- Obligation Number
- M12AC00009
- Geographic Scope
- Alaska
- Report Number
- BOEM 2017-077
- CSE Reference
- Mueter FJ, Weems J, Farley EV, Kuletz K, Lauth RR, Sigler MF (University of Alaska Fairbanks, JuneauAK; Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Seattle, WA; US Fish and Wildlife Service ). 2017. Arctic ecosystem integrated survey final report on distribution of fish, crab, and lower trophic communities in the Northeastern Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea. Anchorage (AK): US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. 1558 p. Obligation No.: M12AC00009. Report No.: OCS Study BOEM 2017-077. URL: https://espis.boem.gov/Final%20Reports/BOEM_2017-077.pdf
- Abstract
- This study on the Distribution of Fish, Crab, and Lower Trophic Communities in the Northeastern Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea formed a large part of the broader Arctic Ecosystem Integrated Survey, the first comprehensive fisheries ecosystem assessment of the Northern Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea. Surveys were conducted in the summers of 2012 and 2013 from several platforms to sample demersal as well as pelagic fish communities. Oceanographic and biological samples collected during these surveys provided a trove of new information on the distribution, abundance, biology and population dynamics of pelagic and demersal fish and invertebrate populations in the Northern Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea, in addition to new insights into the physical forcing and plankton dynamics of the system. Scientific highlights include: (1) Large differences in oceanographic conditions between 2012 and 2013, associated with differences in local winds and in the flow of water through Bering Strait and its advection in the Chukchi Sea; (2) High densities of larval and young-of-year Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida) observed in the northeast Chukchi Sea in both survey years; (3) Plankton, fish and invertebrate species of Pacific origin dominated demersal and pelagic communities throughout the region, but distinct Arctic populations of some species were associated with Arctic water masses on the northeast Chukchi Sea shelf; (4) Juvenile salmon of western Alaska origin, in particular chum (Oncorhynchus keta), pink (O. gorbuscha), and Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha), were widespread and abundant in the northern Bering Sea, extending into the Chukchi Sea and mixing with local populations from Kotzebue Sound; (5) the Chukchi Sea populations of Arctic cod and snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) are continuous with and directly connected to populations in the Bering Sea.