Alternative models of climatic effects on sockeye salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka, productivity in Bristol Bay, Alaska, and the Fraser River, British Columbia

Fisheries Oceanography
By: , and 

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Abstract

We compare alternative models of sockeye salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka, productivity (returns per spawner) using more than 30 years of catch and escapement data for Bristol Bay, Alaska, and the Fraser River, British Columbia. The models examined include several alternative forms of models that incorporate climatic influences as well as models not based on climate. For most stocks, a stationary stock-recruitment relationship explains very little of the interannual variation in productivity. In Bristol Bay, productivity covaries among stocks and appears to be strongly related to fluctuations in climate. The best model for Bristol Bay sockeye involved a change in the 1970s in the parameters of the Ricker stock-recruitment curve; the stocks generally became more productive. In contrast, none of the models of Fraser River stocks that we examined explained much of the variability in their productivity.

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Alternative models of climatic effects on sockeye salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka, productivity in Bristol Bay, Alaska, and the Fraser River, British Columbia
Series title Fisheries Oceanography
DOI 10.1111/j.1365-2419.1996.tb00113.x
Volume 5
Issue 3/4
Year Published 1996
Language English
Publisher Wiley
Contributing office(s) Alaska Biological Science Center
Description 16 p.
First page 137
Last page 152
Country Canada, United States
State Alaska, British Columbia
Other Geospatial Bristol Bay, Fraser River
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