The study will be funded with a $435,000 grant from the Pollock Conservation Cooperative Research Center and $180,000 in matching funds from the Alaska Sustainable Salmon Fund, according to a press release.
UAF professor Milo Adkinson and assistant professors Larissa Dehn and Megan McPhee will lead the project, which includes a consortium of UAF fisheries faculty from both Fairbanks and Juneau.
The project will focus on the health and ecology of freshwater king salmon runs and how those factors affect annual returns.
“Through this funding, the PCC hopes to contribute to a better understanding of the causes of king salmon problems in the Yukon and Kuskokwim River systems,” said Jan Jacobs of American Seafoods, who serves as co-chairman of the PCCRC Advisory Board.
The Pollock Conservation Cooperative Research Center is part of the UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences and is funded by the Pollock Conservation Cooperative, a group of Bering Sea pollock catcher/processor companies.
Many western Alaska river fishermen have blamed poor king salmon runs on the incidental catch by Bering Sea pollock companies. Federal fisheries managers, in their most recent summary of the issue, confirmed that reducing bycatch could help but also said “there are many factors potentially contributing to the reductions in historic run strength.”
The pollock fleet’s king bycatch grew during the early years of the past decade to a high of about 122,000 in 2007 but dropped to 20,500 in 2008 and 12,400 in 2009. Total king catch by commercial, sport and subsistence fishermen in the Yukon, Kuskokwim and Bristol Bay river drainages averaged about 278,000 from 2003-2007.
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council, the federal board that sets pollock-fishing rules, voted in April 2009 to cap the allowable king bycatch in the Bering Sea at a maximum of 60,000 and create regulatory incentives to reduce king bycatch further. Public comments on the proposed rules resulting from the council’s amendment are due to the National Marine Fisheries Service today.
“The fishing industry is greatly concerned about recent declines in western Alaska salmon abundance,” Denis Wiesenburg, dean of the UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences and director of the research center, said. “As a result, the PCCRC decided to direct significant funding this year to meaningful, focused research into the causes of these declines.”
The UAF researchers will examine how king salmon grow in freshwater and how growth affects survival to the age of reproduction. Another component will study how infection from the parasite ichthyophonus affects the health of freshwater-run king salmon. Ichthyophonus attacks the organs of the fish and causes reduced endurance and ability to spawn.
The PCC Research Center awards grants to UA faculty members and other scientists to study North Pacific marine and coastal ecosystems, fisheries and marine mammals. This year, the center requested that proposals for grants address issues of salmon health, ecology and migration.
The PCC has donated more than $10 million to UAF during the past
10 years. PCC companies include American Seafoods Co., Arctic Storm, Glacier Fish Co., Starbound and Trident Seafoods Corp.
Commonsense is free....
Lower the quanity of commercial licenses for alaskans.
Reduce numbers of the foreign commercial & lower 49 states fish intake.
Reduce the foreign commercial & lower 49 states catch load & days.
No new commercial licenses & permits for 5-7 years.
Then enforce the laws.
Give maximum fines.
We have to train our fisheries & ship owners & people who fish that tomorrow matters to Alaska.
I expect my state & resources to be protected today for tomorrow.
Rushing in or dragging feet or turning a blind eye hurts alaska & alaskans.
Simple commonsense.
A penny saved is a penny earned.
A fish saved is a fish earned.
They are blaming something besides global warming for fish decline!
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Nice day..
---xsfym
I wouldn't put much weight at all on the 'science' coming out of [large] commercial interests. Even if they don't pressure or buy researchers, they still can and do limit what is researched. By directing what is investigated, and what is not, it's possible to really 'color the picture' one way or the other.
Dale Jones was removed as the head of NOAA's law enforcement office after a federal review detailed mismanagement in his agency, and found that he had ordered dozens of files distroyed during the investigation. . . .
This particular investigation and dust-up apparently primarily involved the policing of the NE fisheries. But as it involves the very top [national] enforcement level of NOAA's fishery regulations and policies, it does reflect on the possibility of more extensive [in areas/regions besides the NE Atlantic] corrupt practices
Too many downriver commercial fisherman are crying that there is no fish to sell so there must be a problem. The heck with them I just want enough to eat for Alaskan families. The Yukon River can't feed the whole world.
The life cycle of Yukon River king salmon from the egg stage to spawning adult .. with the BIG BLACK BOX of ignorance in the ocean environment.
One old study of survival of the eggs in fresh water, very limited fresh water early life history, no study of out-migration, no study of near shore ocean rearing, no study of predation in fresh water or salt water, limited studies of ocean migration from the Chukchi Sea to the Gulf of Alaska, available food, less than accurate return run strength and limited knowledge of where the fish spawn.
ADF&G, USFWS and NMFS agencies all having management authority and no desire to put down the coffee cup and get into the field to find out the facts for the Alaska BOF and NPFMC.
And worse yet, is the stingy politicians, both State and Federal, that have been unwilling to use PUBLIC funds for the fishery research.
UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Science .. are you just getting started investigating Yukon River king salmon .. or is the building just another 'white whale' on the hill?
It is about time sport, personal use, subsistence and in-river commercial fishers start putting all of the above on the 'hot seat' .. before the pollack fishery 'king killers' are setting in Seattle on their parked boats wondering 'what happened to all that babble they paid for'?
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