Environmental influences on distribution and abundance of capelin (Mallotus villosus) in the Gulf of Alaska

• Main Author: McGowan, David W
• Other Authors: Horne, John K
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: capelin; distribution; fisheries acoustics; forage fish; Gulf of Alaska; spatiotemporal; Ecology; Acoustics; Natural resource management; Fisheries; Arctic; Pacific; Archipelago; Kodiak; Alaska
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1773/41793

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2018 To support ecosystem-based management of Alaska’s marine resources, there is a need to improve our understanding of how climate-related perturbations in ocean conditions and long-term warming affect distributions and abundances of planktivorous fish that function as a mid-trophic link within marine food webs. Capelin (Mallotus villosus) is an important small pelagic fish species in boreal-Arctic marine ecosystems. Spatial and temporal changes in capelin distributions affect their availability as prey to piscivorous seabirds, marine mammals, and commercially important fish. Compared to Atlantic populations, there is limited information describing fluctuations in capelin distributions and abundances in the Alaskan North Pacific. This dissertation examined environmental influences on distributions and relative abundance of age-1+ capelin over the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) continental shelf to assess variability in capelin biomass and availability to predators. Acoustic, oceanographic, and trawl sampling were conducted in summer and fall of 2011 and 2013 as part of the Gulf of Alaska Integrated Ecosystem Research Program to characterize spatial and temporal variability in distributions of capelin and other forage fish species over the central (CGOA) and eastern (EGOA) shelf and slope. Environmental factors that influenced occurrence and density of capelin in summer 2013 were identified at spatial resolutions associated with systematic sampling at discrete stations and continuous sampling along transects. Additional data from an independent fisheries-oceanographic survey were used to investigate effects of temperature on spatiotemporal variability in capelin distributions and densities during a period of warm and cold years between 2000 and 2013. GOA capelin have concentrated over the shelf south and east of the Kodiak Archipelago in the CGOA since at least the mid-2000s. Distributions were influenced by increased vertical mixing and bathymetry. Model results indicated that ...