NOAA Fisheries News Releases
NEWS RELEASE
August 2, 2006
Sheela McLean
(907) 586-7032
NOAA researchers study from Japanese research boat
Sharing knowledge, efforts and even space on research boats, international scientists are pursuing the story of the lives of salmon in North Pacific ecosystems. NOAA Fisheries researchers from Alaska have been riding a Japanese research vessel as they cooperate on an international program named BASIS (Bering-Aleutian Salmon International Survey).
BASIS is an international marine research program that organizes studies of ecosystem function around the salmon’s first year of life in the ocean. This is extremely beneficial, especially since the United States shares many important fish stocks with other countries.
NOAA Fisheries researcher Kristin Cieciel holding a trawl-caught king salmon aboard the Japanese research vessel Kaiyo maru. Photo: Tanimata/ Hokkaido National Fisheries Research Institute
NOAA Fisheries researcher Dr. Jamal Moss of Juneau spent three weeks on the Japanese research vessel Kaiyo maru this spring, and he’ll be leading one of two U.S. BASIS research cruises in August. Kristin Cieciel, also a researcher from the Alaska Fisheries Science Center’s Auke Bay Laboratory in Juneau, just returned from a month-long journey on the Kaiyo maru.
The Kaiyo maru carries about 50 people including crew, scientists, technicians and grad students. The mix is extremely international: lead scientists on this year’s scientific cruise on the Japanese boat come from Japan, the United States, Korea and Russia. In addition to the Japanese R/V Kaiyo maru, BASIS program researchers have been conducting coordinated research on board the Russian R/V TINRO, and U.S. chartered vessels Sea Storm and NW Explorer for five summers.
"Collaborating with Japanese, Russian and Korean scientists was particularly gratifying as each nation researches questions focused on salmon that are relevant to the pelagic ocean ecosystem as a whole", said Dr. Moss. "During breaks from the work schedules, we delved into the nuances of each nation’s research programs over countless cups of tea and discussed everyday life at home and our families."
"I tagged salmon and assisted with the fish sampling on the Kaiyo maru," explained research oceanographer Cieciel. Several of the tagged salmon have already been recovered in Bristol Bay and Yukon River fisheries. She said that most of her work focused more on the oceanographic side, leaving the direct research on salmon to others. She also identified, counted and weighed jellyfish caught in the scientific trawls.
Moss’ and Cieciel’s excursions are a small part of the over-all interdisciplinary effort underpinning the international research program of BASIS. Scientists from five countries are collaborating on high seas studies focused on seven salmonid species and their physical and biological environments in the Bering Sea. In addition to salmon, BASIS’ net samples also provide data for understanding other species of small pelagics such as juvenile pollock, herring and jellyfish.
By collecting a combination of physical and biological observations not matched by any other survey in the Bering Sea, BASIS makes possible many types of biological and physical studies. For example, BASIS provides the genetically-based understanding of high seas migrations of salmon, as required for their protection under the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission Agreement. Incidental and illegal take of salmon from many different countries on the open ocean can compromise the stocks and the goals of managers in their countries of origin. Using a genetic baseline of almost 300 stocks of sockeye salmon and 200 stocks of chum salmon from throughout the North Pacific Rim, BASIS researchers can estimate the possible impacts of such high seas takes. For example, analysis of Japan’s BASIS’ chum salmon specimens show high proportions of Russian and Japanese origin chum salmon in the central and eastern Bering Sea.
Researchers on the Japanese fishing vessel Kaiyo maru move a tarp in preparation for deploying the trawl net for collecting samples on an expedition in the Bering Sea. Photo: Kristin Cieciel/NOAA
Physical and biological oceanographic observations, such as subsurface temperature and salinity, nutrients and fluorescence, contribute to modeling ocean currents, and understandings of biogeochemical cycles and primary productivity of the Bering Sea. In the long run, the variety of observations collected by BASIS is expected to lead to improved stock assessment models for commercially exploited fish species, as well as improved understanding of mechanisms regulating populations of associated species of birds and mammals. In addition, the baseline of biological and physical observations will prove invaluable in understanding and predicting the consequences of climate change for fish and shellfish communities. As an ultimate goal, BASIS is expected to serve resource managers by providing an improved understanding of how fishing may interact with environmental changes to control populations of birds, fish and mammals in the Bering Sea and adjacent waters.
Dr. Loh-Lee Low at NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center coordinates U.S. participation in the international BASIS program. Dr. Jack Helle of the Auke Bay Laboratory heads the Center’s Ocean Carrying Capacity Program, and focuses on the BASIS program areas of determining salmon population sizes, identifying salmon stocks by region or country of origin, determining utilization of ocean rearing areas, and assessing interception—accidental and/or illegal—of salmon in the open ocean. He is also chairman of the international BASIS scientific committee.
NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) is dedicated to protecting and preserving our nation’s living marine resources through scientific research, management, enforcement, and the conservation of marine mammals and other protected marine species and their habitat. To learn more about NOAA Fisheries in Alaska, please visit our websites at www.fakr.noaa.gov or at www.afsc.noaa.gov
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