Recent Changes in Age and Size of Chum Salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) in the North Pacific Ocean and Possible Causes

Abstract

Changes in age composition and size of adult chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) from rivers in Japan, Russia, and Canada were examined based on body weight and scale measurement data collected from 1953 to 1988. A significant increase in mean age was found in Japanese and Russian stocks after 1970 when the number of Japanese chum salmon began to increase exponentially, but not in the Canadian stock. Significant decreases in mean body weight, mean scale radius, and mean width of the third-year zones of age 4 chum salmon also occurred in Japanese and Russian stocks after 1970. Based on the Japanese salmon research vessel data from 1972 to 1988, significant negative relationships between catch-per-unit-effort and mean body weight of chum salmon were observed in summer in the central North Pacific Ocean where the distribution of Japanese and Russian stocks overlaps. These results suggest that density dependence is one of the possible causes for the recent changes in age and size of chum salmon in the North Pacific Ocean.