EK60 Water Column Sonar Data Collected During IYSTINRO22

Pacific salmon are an important cultural, commercial, and biological resource for countries of the
North Pacific rim. The geographic distribution of these salmon spans the North Pacific Ocean
(NPO), where they occupy a variety of ecosystems and water masses throughout their ocean life
history phase. There are significant gaps in our understanding of the mechanisms that regulate
distribution, productivity/survival in coastal and high seas environments. These gaps hamper our
ability to usefully inform management decisions related to fisheries and habitat across
freshwater, coastal and high seas ecosystems.
As a changing climate and associated anomalous events in the large marine ecosystems of the
NPO progressively expose Pacific salmon to conditions that are outside the "normal" climate
cycles, society will confront new resource management issues. These include the future of the
cultures and subsistence lifestyles of local Indigenous communities, potential impacts of
industrial activities (e.g., commercial fishing), potential changes to regional ocean carrying
capacity, and resilience of North Pacific marine ecosystems. In addition, the growing threat of
illegal, unreported, and unregulated high seas fishing and the recovery of salmon populations
listed under the US Endangered Species Act and Canadian Species at Risk Act has increased the
need for timely advice about salmon distribution.
An international effort is required to detect and monitor changes in salmon and their ecosystem
because stocks from all major salmon States of origin are distributed in the NPO. Salmon
originate in producer nations’ rivers migrate through the exclusive economic zones of coastal
states and intermingle in the high seas. In response to this need, the NPAFC, with partners and
collaborating scientists in academia, NGOs and the private sector, is conducting an ambitious
high seas research expedition with up to five research vessels surveying the full breadth of the
NPO in late winter 2022. The expedition will test a collaborative research framework to better
understand the mechanisms and processes that regulate the distribution and abundance of Pacific
salmon and steelhead trout; to promote sustainable populations of anadromous populations in the
NPO; to allow for better forecasts of salmon production trends in the future; and to enhance the
sustainable fisheries management, food security, and economic security in salmon States.