Pacific salmons in the nekton community of the upper epipelagic layer of the Northwest Pacific at Kuril Islands in the early summer of 2012

Abstract

According to the data of trawl catches performed by the R/V “TINRO” in the upper epipelagic zone (0–50 m) of Pacific waters off the Kuril Islands from June 2 to July 8, 2012, the abundance of nekton was the lowest for the recent 9 years; thus, its density in 2012 (1.5 t/km2) was lower than the average value for the 2004–2012 period (2.40 ± 0.39 t/km2). The major portion of the nekton biomass was formed by pacific salmon (706 000 tons, or 43.6%); their role grows abruptly during pre-spawning migrations of pink salmon, whose proportion reached 29.8% (483 000 t). In 2012, the recorded biomass of pre-anadromous pink salmon was as high as those in the previous 3 years, and even higher than the estimate of 2010 (479 800 t), which is the largest value for even-numbered years. The value of 2012 also was comparable with the estimates for the previous odd-numbered year, 2011, when the total biomass of the species constituted 496 500 t. Chum salmon stands out among other salmon for its record-high biomass (192 700 t, 11.9%), which was twice as high as that in 2011. The biomass and the share of the mesopelagic fish complex was the lowest (286800 t, 17.7%) since 2004. Among other fish species, Kuril groups of walleye pollock also had a substantial biomass (381 200 t, 23.5%). The total biomass of squid (225 300 t, 13.9%) was lower than the value of 2011 (326 300 t, 14.8%) owing to the decline in the biomass of Boreopacific gonate squid by 90 000 t.