ES80 Water Column Sonar Data Collected During IYSNWExplorer22

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. 
				Our key methodological approach is to conduct an international survey of salmon and their 
				ecosystems in the offshore regions of the NPO by deploying survey vessels at key times and 
				areas to provide a seasonal picture of the distribution, migration and ecology of salmon in the 
				high seas. This information will be connected to survey data (past and present) from NPAFC 
				member countries conducting integrated ecosystem research within their Exclusive Economic 
				Zones (EEZs) and previous international salmon research in the high seas. Together, these 
				surveys provide a unique opportunity for research towards conservation and management of 
				Pacific salmon.
				This effort builds on decades of high seas trawl surveys by the Russian Federation and other 
				countries in the NPO and successful international research endeavors by the NPAFC and its 
				precursor the International North Pacific Fisheries Commission (INPFC), such as the Bering Aleutian Salmon International Survey (BASIS; NPAFC Doc. 579 Rev 2). Two recent winter 
				surveys to the Gulf of Alaska in 2019 and 2020, which were privately organized by Dr. Dick 
				Beamish and Dr. Brian Riddell, form the proof of concept and provide baseline data comparable
				to this larger scale survey. The organization and operation of the first expedition was highly 
				supported by the NPAFC Secretariat staff. 
				The project is a Signature Project within the NPAFCs five-year International Year of the 
				Salmon initiative (20182022), an effort dedicated to set the conditions supporting the resilience 
				of salmon and people in a rapidly changing world.

Tags: acoustic scattering, acoustic sounders, aquatic ecosystems, aquatic sciences, bathymetry, bathymetry/seafloor topography, benthic, biosphere, doc/noaa/nesdis/ncei, doc/noaa/nesdis/ngdc, earth science, ecosystems, fisheries, in situ/laboratory instruments, marine ecosystems, national centers for environmental information, national geophysical data center, nesdis, noaa, north pacific ocean, ocean acoustics, oceans, pelagic, profilers/sounders, seafloor topography, u.s. department of commerce, vertical location, water column, water column mapping system, wcms
Organization: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce