The International Gulf of Alaska Expedition 2019, a month-long salmon research trip carried out aboard the Russian Research Vessel Professor Kaganovskiy, has been completed, according to The North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission.
The ship returned to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on Monday, 18 March.
The expedition set out to study the at-sea part of the salmon life-cycle, rather than when they journey back to rivers and streams to spawn at the end of their lives. The study is the first comprehensive winter study of Pacific salmon in the Gulf of Alaska.
The team took thousands of samples, which will be analyzed in the coming months, but some discoveries have already been made. Pink salmon, for example, which are supposed to be abundant in odd years, only comprised 10 percent of their catches. Instead, the team was surprised to discover that coho salmon were the second most-abundant species. Scientists had thought that coho stayed close to the coast, which is why it was unusual for them to be caught hundreds of miles away in open ocean.
Researchers hope the study will provide information and understanding of the abundance, condition, country of origin, and location of stocks from Pacific salmon-producing countries.
The NPAFC is comprised of the five Pacific salmon producing countries: Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, and the United States of America. The expedition was comprised of 21 researchers from those five countries, including scientists from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, NOAA Fisheries, The University of British Columbia, The University of Victoria, Hokkaido National Fisheries Research Institute, and Gangneung-Wonju National University.
The project, which cost around USD 1.3 million (EUR 1.1 million), received funding from multiple sources including government, industry, NGO, and private contributions.
“I congratulate the scientists and the crew of the R/V Kaganovskiy,” NPAFC Director for the International Year of the Salmon in the North Pacific Mark Saunders said. “The success of this cruise demonstrates the value of strong international collaboration in generating the knowledge required for people and salmon in this rapidly changing world.”
Photo courtesy of NOAA
