Fish Assemblages in Shallow, Nearshore Habitats of the Bering Sea

Abstract

AbstractThe Bering Sea provides over one‐half of U.S. fishery production, yet knowledge of the use of its shallow (<5 m), nearshore (<20 m from shore) waters by fish is limited. In June 2005, we sampled shallow, nearshore waters of the Bering Sea at three Aleutian islands with a beach seine to estimate the relative abundance and species distribution of fish. Three habitat types were sampled: Nonvegetated sand substrate, vegetated cobble substrate, and vegetated bedrock substrate. A total of 70 sites were seined on Akutan, Akun, and Unalaska islands. The total estimated catch was 83,910 fish representing 33 taxa. Five species comprised 98% of the total catch. Pacific sand lance Ammodytes hexapterus was the most abundant species; approximately 35,000 of these fish were captured, and they occurred in 60% of all seine hauls. The next most abundant fish were young‐of‐the‐year (age‐0) gadids (primarily walleye pollock Theragra chalcogramma), age‐0 pink salmon Oncorhynchus gorbuscha, age‐0 Pacific sandfish Trichodon trichodon, and snake prickleback Lumpenus sagitta. Fish were unequally distributed among habitats. The estimated mean catch per seine haul was 1,171 fish in sand sites, 1,647 fish in cobble sites, and 79 fish in bedrock sites. Most Pacific sand lances (98%) were captured in sand sites, whereas most gadids (97%), pink salmon (80%), Pacific sandfish (96%), and snake pricklebacks (99%) were caught in cobble sites. Sand and cobble nearshore habitats in the Bering Sea provide important habitat for many fish species in summer, especially forage fish.