Using Stomach Contents of Predatory Fish to Sample Forage Fishes in Kachemak Bay and Lower Cook Inlet, Alaska: 1995-1998

• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Gulf of Alaska Data Portal
• Subjects: Alaska; Barren Islands; capelin; Cook Inlet; EVOS; EVOSTC; Exxon Valdez; Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council; forage fish; invertebrates; halibut; Kachemak Bay; oil spill; Pacific halibut; Pacific sand lance; Ammodytes hexapterus; Hippoglossus stenolepis; Mallotus villosus; hexapterus; stenolepis; villosus; Pacific; Kachemak
• Online Access: https://search.dataone.org/view/df35j.8.20

Evaluating the influence of fluctuating prey populations (e.g. forage fish) is critical to understanding the recovery of seabirds injured by the T/V Exxon Valdez oil spill; however, it is expensive to conduct annual hydroacoustic and trawl surveys to assess forage fish stocks over broad regions. This project tests the feasibility and effectiveness of using stomach contents from sport-caught Pacific halibut and Pacific sand lance, two forage fish important to piscivorous seabirds. Results from 1995-1998 suggest that this simple-cost effective method can supply useful information on forage fish populations that can help monitor seasonal and interannual variations in forage fish stocks and seabird prey bases near nesting colonies. The data set describes 1. The frequencies of occurence of fish, invertebrates or neither in halibut stomachs from the total of Areas 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 in Kachemak Bay- lower Cook Inlet, 1995-1998. 2. The frequencies of occurence of fish and invertebrates in halibut stomachs identified and separated into common name categories from the total of Areas 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 in Kechemak Bay- lower Cook Inlet, 1995-1998. 3. The percentage of fish and invertebrates in halibut stomachs over the total of Areas 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 in Kachemak Bay- lower Cook Inlet, 1995-1998. 4. The percentages of fish in halibut stomachs from the total of and each individual area of Areas 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 in Kechemak Bay- lower Cook Inlet, 1995-1998.