EK60 Water Column Sonar Data Collected During IYS-2019-Kaganovksy

Project Details
Research vessel: r/v “Professor Kaganovskiy”
Region: The Gulf of Alaska and adjacent northeastern Pacific Ocean
Timing: February – March 2019
Objectives: The first comprehensive study of the winter ecology of juvenile and adult Pacific
salmon in the Gulf of Alaska
Project Leader: Richard Beamish
Chief Scientists: Evgeny Pakhomov and Laurie Weitkamp
Chief Administrator: Vladimir Radchenko
Captain: Aleksander Pakker
Coordinating Committee: R. Beamish, B. Riddell (co-chairs); V. Radchenko,
E. Pakhomov, Laurie Weitkamp, Chrys Neville (members)
Donors: The Government of Canada, private donors, Pacific Salmon Foundation, BC Salmon
Farmers Association, the Province of British Columbia, and the Pacific Salmon Commission.
In-kind contributions: Pacific Biological Station, Federal agency for Fisheries of the Russian
Federation, FSBSI “VNIRO”, FSBSI “TINRO-Center”, University of British Columbia,
University of Victoria, Hokkaido National Fisheries Research Institute.

Rationale
The Gulf of Alaska expedition is the first comprehensive survey of Pacific salmon in the winter in
the northeastern Pacific Ocean. It is generally believed that about one third of all Pacific salmon
are in the Gulf of Alaska in the winter, but factors affecting their survival during the critical winter
period have not been studied. There is consensus that ocean ecosystems are changing and ocean
research on the impacts on Pacific salmon is urgently needed particularly for the virtually
unstudied winter population dynamics in the Gulf of Alaska. In the absence of this understanding,
it is impossible to assess the carrying capacity in the Gulf to support North American Pacific
salmon stocks now and in a future of changing ocean ecosystems. This baseline information is
urgently needed as current forecasts struggle to understand how climate and the changing ocean
environment affect salmon production. This expedition will also be an example of the
opportunities to coordinate international research on issues that have challenged the research
community for over 100 years.