Radio Script
2000

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Salmon Plan
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INTRO: Each summer, fishermen eagerly anticipate the return of salmon to Alaska. Some years, the salmon return by the millions, while other years, the runs fall far below expectations—and no one seems to know why. As Doug Schneider reports in this week's Arctic Science Journeys Radio, federal scientists have put forth a plan to find out.

STORY: The problem, say researchers, is that too little is known about what happens to salmon once they leave their freshwater birthplaces for the high seas. Dr. Richard Brodeur is a salmon biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service in Newport, Oregon.

BRODEUR: "One of the things we're starting to realize is that the ocean is much more important to the survival of salmon than had previously been thought of. In the past, people hadn't really considered ocean conditions when looking at salmon survival and production in the North Pacific."

Brodeur and other federal salmon biologists recently published what they say is a plan to fill this gap in salmon research. The plan, published in the June issue of the journal, Fisheries, lays out four areas where salmon research is needed. First on the list is the need to know where salmon feed and migrate in the vast North Pacific Ocean.

BRODEUR: "I think we need to know a little bit more on a stock by stock basis where the fish are going. We have some idea of where, say, Bristol Bay fish are going at certain times of the year. We don't know much about when they first get out into the ocean. But we know they migrate along the Alaska Peninsula and then eventually head out into the open ocean. But there's been so little work on that. But that's just one stock. I think genetics is going to help a lot. There's a lot of new genetic techniques that we can use to look at individual stocks at sea and look at their spatial distribution and see how they overlap. And that will give us an indication of what habitats these stocks are utilizing out in the ocean."

Brodeur and his colleagues also say more needs to be known about how wild salmon and hatchery salmon interact, and how many salmon the ocean can support.

BRODEUR: "What we're mostly interested in is how hatchery and wild salmon interact in the ocean. Is there competition for food? Hatchery fish sometimes go out larger than the wild fish so they could be out competing the wild. We need to know if the ocean is limiting to salmon. How are hatchery fish affecting the carrying capacity of the ocean? That is something we don't have a good feeling for."

Brodeur says studies are needed to understand the trophic dynamics of salmon. In other words, what do salmon eat and what eats them. Finally, more information is needed about the effects of large-scale environmental change on salmon.

Although the plan focuses on the need for more research, Brodeur says it's also a blueprint aimed at fostering more cooperation between NMFS researchers along the U.S. West Coast.

BRODEUR: "The three labs really have been working independently when it comes to salmon. There really is no plan or coordinated research proposal to get these labs working together. The authors of this paper are from all those labs and what we decided to do was pull together a consensus of what we think the major needed areas of research are."

At the moment, the plan exists only on paper. The National Marine Fisheries Service hasn't officially endorsed the plan, nor has any money been allocated. But Brodeur isn't discouraged. He says the plan has had an impact. Already this summer, researchers from NMFS labs in Oregon and California have teamed up to place tiny computerized tags on 100 adult salmon. The tags provide researchers with a record of ocean temperatures encountered by salmon and how deep the salmon swam.

OUTRO: This is Arctic Science Journeys Radio, a production of the Alaska Sea Grant Program and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I'm Doug Schneider.

For more information visit these web sites:

PDF file of article: A Coordinated Research Plan for Estuarine and Ocean Research on Pacific Salmon

Research article, A Coordinated Research Plan for Estuarine and Ocean Research on Pacific Salmon, in the American Fisheries Society Journal

Thanks to the following individual for help preparing this script:

Dr. Richard Brodeur
National Marine Fisheries Service
Northwest Fisheries Science Center
Newport, OR 97365
Ph: 541-867-0336
Email: Rick.Brodeur@noaa.gov