Epipelagic nekton of the North Pacific Subarctic and Transition Zones

Abstract

During the 1980s and 1990s, scientific research cruises and commercial gillnet operations with scientific observers aboard were conducted throughout much of the Subarctic and Transition Zones of the North Pacific Ocean. These studies produced one of the most extensive databases ever collected on the relative species composition and trophic structure of epipelagic nekton of the Subarctic and Transition Zones in the North Pacific Ocean. Data from Japanese high-seas gillnet research surveys (1981–1991) were examined using multivariate analytical techniques to analyse community structure of nektonic cephalopods, elasmobranchs, and teleosts in the North Pacific Subarctic and Transition Zones during the summer months, emphasizing differences between the eastern and western Subarctic Gyres. Species diversity generally increased going from west to east, which was apparently associated with the greater range of temperatures in the east. Discriminant analysis was able to correctly classify about half the catch locations into their respective regions. Catches from multinational drift gillnet commercial fisheries operations in 1990–1991 mainly in the Transition Zone were also examined. Classification techniques were employed to determine species associations and multivariate analyses were used to examine relationships of these assemblages to environmental data. We found that some species are often captured in the same gillnet sets and form species associations that are distinct in ordination space, but these associations are loose and may vary appreciably from year to year. We review recent studies on the feeding habits and daily ration of the dominant species and construct food webs for the eastern and western Subarctic and Transition Zone systems emphasizing the role that nekton play in these pelagic ecosystems.