Fish Communities and Food Chains in the Amchitka Area

Abstract

In addition to hand collection (usually involving scuba) and rotenone, other sampling gear used to survey marine fish communities included: surface and bottom gill nets, surface and bottom longlines, shrimp traps, crab traps, amphipod traps, hook and line, minnow traps, plankton nets, fyke nets, and otter trawls. The use of different sampling gears and methods resulted in an artificial depth separation of samples collected near shore ( 37 m). A 90-ft (27-m) vessel was used for work offshore, and small skiffs and scuba were used for nearshore investigations. Much of the work was exploratory and experimental, and more efficient methods are being developed. The bottom gill net and longline were the most productive near shore, and the bottom trawl, surface salmon gill net, and salmon longline were most productive offshore.