Pacific Salmon Status and Abundance Trends - 2012 Update

This report updates a major review published in 2009 of commercial catch and hatchery release data for Pacific salmon. Pacific salmon abundance in the North Pacific, as indexed by aggregate commercial catches, is at all time high levels, with no indication of decline. The highest catches on record occurred during 2009 and 2011 when more than 1 million tonnes (>600 million fish) were caught. There are more adult salmon caught in odd numbered years than even years because the most frequent species in the catch, pink salmon, are most abundant in odd years. The ranking of species in the aggregate catch varied little since the time series began in 1925. Pink salmon have generally been the most numerous, usually followed by chum, sockeye, coho, Chinook, and masu salmon. Although the northern North Pacific Ocean continues to produce large quantities of Pacific salmon, temporal abundance patterns vary among species. Currently, pink and chum salmon are very abundant, coho and Chinook salmon are less abundant than they were previously, while sockeye salmon abundance varies among areas. Pink and chum salmon dominate Asian catches; numbers increased following the 1977 but especially the 1989 regime shift, and remain at all time highs. Russia currently catches the largest proportion of the Asian catch although in earlier years, Japan often caught a greater proportion; catches by the Republic of Korea are relatively minor. Asian hatchery production continues to increase, primarily because of increased numbers of salmon released from Russian hatcheries. Improved survivals reported for some groups of hatchery-origin salmon are a consequence of both improved hatchery practices and environmental changes. Favourable marine conditions for pink and chum salmon, expanding hatchery operations, and improved hatchery technologies have all played a role in increasing the abundance of chum and pink salmon in Asia. North American salmon abundance increased following the 1977 regime shift. The relative abundance of salmon species in North America varies from north to south. Pink and sockeye salmon are the primary species in Alaska while in Canada, pink, sockeye, and chum salmon have historically been the most important, and in Washington, Oregon, and California, Chinook and coho salmon are the most abundant species. Interannual variability in the importance of various species in North America has been more pronounced during the last decade than previously.

Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.