Contrasting coastal and shelf nursery habitats of Pacific cod in the southeastern Bering Sea
Abstract Shallow, subtidal waters of coastal embayments are the primary nursery habitats of juvenile Pacific cod through much of their range. However, the importance of these habitats to the Bering Sea population is poorly understood as the Bering Sea offers relatively little of this habitat. In thi...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsu141 http://academic.oup.com/icesjms/article-pdf/72/2/515/31230779/fsu141.pdf |
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croxfordunivpr:10.1093/icesjms/fsu141 2024-09-09T19:33:38+00:00 Contrasting coastal and shelf nursery habitats of Pacific cod in the southeastern Bering Sea Hurst, Thomas P. Cooper, Daniel W. Duffy-Anderson, Janet T. Farley, Edward V. 2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsu141 http://academic.oup.com/icesjms/article-pdf/72/2/515/31230779/fsu141.pdf en eng Oxford University Press (OUP) ICES Journal of Marine Science volume 72, issue 2, page 515-527 ISSN 1054-3139 1095-9289 journal-article 2014 croxfordunivpr https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsu141 2024-08-19T04:23:00Z Abstract Shallow, subtidal waters of coastal embayments are the primary nursery habitats of juvenile Pacific cod through much of their range. However, the importance of these habitats to the Bering Sea population is poorly understood as the Bering Sea offers relatively little of this habitat. In this study, we examined the use of demersal and pelagic habitats in the southeast Bering Sea by age-0 Pacific cod. In 4 years of demersal beam trawling on the shelf at depths of 20–146 m, fish were most abundant along the Alaska Peninsula (AKP) at depths to 50 m. In addition, 1 year of spatially intensive beam trawl sampling was conducted at depths of 5–30 m in a nearshore focal area along the central AKP. In this survey, age-0 cod were more abundant along the open coastline than they were in two coastal embayments, counter to patterns observed in the Gulf of Alaska. Demersal sampling in 2012 was conducted synoptically with surveys of surface and subsurface waters over the continental shelf. Age-0 cod were captured in pelagic waters over the middle and outer shelf, with maximum catches occurring over depths of 60–80 m. The similar size distributions of fish in coastal-demersal and shelf-surface habitats and the proximity of concentrations in the two habitat types suggests that habitat use in the Bering Sea occurs along a gradient from coastal to pelagic. While capture efficiencies may differ among trawl types, trawl-based estimates of age-0 cod density in demersal waters along the AKP was 10 times that observed in the highest density pelagic-shelf habitats, demonstrating the importance of coastal nursery habitats in this population. Despite representing a much smaller habitat area, the coastal waters along the AKP appear an important nursery area and support a significant fraction of the age-0 Pacific cod in the Bering Sea. Article in Journal/Newspaper Bering Sea Alaska Oxford University Press Bering Sea Gulf of Alaska Pacific ICES Journal of Marine Science 72 2 515 527 |
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Open Polar |
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Oxford University Press |
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croxfordunivpr |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Shallow, subtidal waters of coastal embayments are the primary nursery habitats of juvenile Pacific cod through much of their range. However, the importance of these habitats to the Bering Sea population is poorly understood as the Bering Sea offers relatively little of this habitat. In this study, we examined the use of demersal and pelagic habitats in the southeast Bering Sea by age-0 Pacific cod. In 4 years of demersal beam trawling on the shelf at depths of 20–146 m, fish were most abundant along the Alaska Peninsula (AKP) at depths to 50 m. In addition, 1 year of spatially intensive beam trawl sampling was conducted at depths of 5–30 m in a nearshore focal area along the central AKP. In this survey, age-0 cod were more abundant along the open coastline than they were in two coastal embayments, counter to patterns observed in the Gulf of Alaska. Demersal sampling in 2012 was conducted synoptically with surveys of surface and subsurface waters over the continental shelf. Age-0 cod were captured in pelagic waters over the middle and outer shelf, with maximum catches occurring over depths of 60–80 m. The similar size distributions of fish in coastal-demersal and shelf-surface habitats and the proximity of concentrations in the two habitat types suggests that habitat use in the Bering Sea occurs along a gradient from coastal to pelagic. While capture efficiencies may differ among trawl types, trawl-based estimates of age-0 cod density in demersal waters along the AKP was 10 times that observed in the highest density pelagic-shelf habitats, demonstrating the importance of coastal nursery habitats in this population. Despite representing a much smaller habitat area, the coastal waters along the AKP appear an important nursery area and support a significant fraction of the age-0 Pacific cod in the Bering Sea. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hurst, Thomas P. Cooper, Daniel W. Duffy-Anderson, Janet T. Farley, Edward V. |
spellingShingle |
Hurst, Thomas P. Cooper, Daniel W. Duffy-Anderson, Janet T. Farley, Edward V. Contrasting coastal and shelf nursery habitats of Pacific cod in the southeastern Bering Sea |
author_facet |
Hurst, Thomas P. Cooper, Daniel W. Duffy-Anderson, Janet T. Farley, Edward V. |
author_sort |
Hurst, Thomas P. |
title |
Contrasting coastal and shelf nursery habitats of Pacific cod in the southeastern Bering Sea |
title_short |
Contrasting coastal and shelf nursery habitats of Pacific cod in the southeastern Bering Sea |
title_full |
Contrasting coastal and shelf nursery habitats of Pacific cod in the southeastern Bering Sea |
title_fullStr |
Contrasting coastal and shelf nursery habitats of Pacific cod in the southeastern Bering Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Contrasting coastal and shelf nursery habitats of Pacific cod in the southeastern Bering Sea |
title_sort |
contrasting coastal and shelf nursery habitats of pacific cod in the southeastern bering sea |
publisher |
Oxford University Press (OUP) |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsu141 http://academic.oup.com/icesjms/article-pdf/72/2/515/31230779/fsu141.pdf |
geographic |
Bering Sea Gulf of Alaska Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Bering Sea Gulf of Alaska Pacific |
genre |
Bering Sea Alaska |
genre_facet |
Bering Sea Alaska |
op_source |
ICES Journal of Marine Science volume 72, issue 2, page 515-527 ISSN 1054-3139 1095-9289 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsu141 |
container_title |
ICES Journal of Marine Science |
container_volume |
72 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
515 |
op_container_end_page |
527 |
_version_ |
1809903151510192128 |