Predation by marine birds and mammals in the Subarctic North Pacific Ocean
By: edited by George L. Hunt, Jr., Hidehiro Kato and Stewart M. McKinnell.
Contributors: Hunt, George L.; Katō, Hidehiro, 1952-; McKinnell, Stewart M.; North Pacific Marine Science Organization.
Series: PICES scientific report -- no. 14.
Publisher: North Pacific Marine Science Organization
Published: 2000
Place of publication: Sidney, B.C., Canada
Language: eng
Number of pages: 165
ISBN-13: 9780968510049
Subjects: Predation (Biology) -- North Pacific Ocean.; Marine ecology -- North Pacific Ocean.; Sea birds -- North Pacific Ocean.; Marine animals -- North Pacific Ocean.
Description: "Marine birds and marine mammals are important components of the North Pacific ecosystem. The amount of food consumed by marine birds and mammals can be considerable. In some areas, the prey of marine birds and mammals are important commercial species or are important prey for harvested species, so there can be conflicts between human and bird/mammal use of resources. Declines in some mammal and bird populations have raised concerns about possible competition with commercial fisheries. Because of the importance that marine birds and mammals have in the North Pacific, it is important to bring together and summarize available information on the food habits and consumption by these important predators in order to understand their role in the ecosystem.  To make comparisons and summarizations easier and more comprehensible, the PICES region (30⁰N to the Bering Strait) was subdivided into regions based on oceanographic domains (Fig. 1).  These regions varied in size from about 7 million km² to over 100 million km². The quality and quantity of information was not uniform across the regions, making comparisons difficult.  At least 47 marine mammal species and 135 sea bird species inhabit the PICES region. Estimates of abundance exceed 10,000,000 marine mammals and 200,000,000 marine birds. Seabirds and marine mammals are widely distributed throughout the PICES region. The mean size of individuals ranges from 28 kg to over 100,000 kg for marine mammals and from 20 g to 8,000+g for marine birds."--Exec. Sum.
Notes: "August 2000."

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