Science Bridging Five Nations: The Bering-Aleutian Salmon International Survey

Moderators: Jim Seeb, Jack Helle, and Kate Myers
Email: jim_seeb@fishgame.state.ak.us

Date: Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Time: 8:00 am to 5:20 pm
Location: Voth Hall

The North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC) Convention Area, which includes all international waters of the North Pacific Ocean and adjacent seas, forms the world’s largest marine conservation area for Pacific salmon. The NPAFC provides a forum for international coordination of the regional salmon research programs of its five member nations (Canada, Japan, Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, and the United States). The Bering-Aleutian Salmon International Survey (BASIS), which began in 2002, is NPAFC’s coordinated program of cooperative research on salmon in the Bering Sea. BASIS was designed to clarify the mechanisms of biological response by salmon to the conditions caused by climate changes. Key research activities are designed to address four major questions: 1) what are the stock-specific migration patterns of salmon inhabiting the Bering Sea, particularly those stocks exhibiting recent changes in production, and what is their relation in the Bering Sea ecosystem, 2) what are the key biological, climatic, and oceanographic factors affecting long-term changes in Bering Sea food production and salmon growth rates, 3) what are the similarities (or dissimilarities ) in production or survival trends among salmon populations originating in rivers around the Bering Sea Rim, and 4) is there a limit (carrying capacity) to the amount of salmon that can be produced in the Bering Sea, and what is the effect of hatchery salmon on Bering Sea food supplies? The objective of this symposium is to provide an overview of the BASIS collaboration and advancements in research. We will describe the interagency and international synergy that is helping us to better understand salmon migration and population fluctuations in a changing marine environment. New research results on salmon genetics, stock-specific ocean distribution and migration patterns, vertical distribution and thermal habitats, ocean ecology and community structure of salmon and associated species, and fisheries-oceanography of the Bering Sea should be of interest to a broad spectrum of AFS members and participants.

Link to list of presentations in this symposium

Sponsors:

AFS International Fisheries Section

AFS Genetics Section