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Eastern Bering Sea pollock recruitment, abundance, distribution and approach to fishery management

  • SPECIAL FEATURE: REVIEW ARTICLE
  • Social-ecological systems on walleye pollock under changing environment: Inter-disciplinary approach
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Abstract

Eastern Bering Sea pollock have two distinctly different stable spawning grounds—along the shelf and in the eastern and central Aleutian Islands between 400 and 500 m water columns. Pollock spawning behavior supports the hypothesis that the shelf and deepwater “basin” spawning pollock are completely independent reproductive stocks. Deepwater pollock inhabit the shelf and, once mature at age 5–6 years, migrate from the shelf onto the continental slope into the Zhemchug, Pribilof, and Bering canyons by the end of winter. Bering Sea pollock recruitment and year class abundance have high annual variability, but there are no clear relationships between pollock year class strength and water temperature, ice distribution or survival on early ontogenesis stages (eggs and larvae). Young-of-the-year fish survival varies dramatically during winter supporting the hypothesis that the Bering Sea pollock recruitment and strength of year class have high annual variability depending on young-of-the-year fish survival during winter. The annual change of physical oceanography condition, productivity and species composition of zooplankton community are associated with great differences in pollock seasonal migrations and distribution, reproduction, survival of recruits at early stages of development and finally with abundance of year classes and total biomass. Implementation of ecosystem-based fishery management most important for application of pollock research both of Russian national program and on base of International Agreements.

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Acknowledgments

The basic data for this paper were assembled with the Pacific Research Fisheries Center (TINRO-Center, Vladivostok) and Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC, Seattle) regular research surveys in the Bering Sea in 1980–2000s. We would like to acknowledge the contributions of many persons who provided survey data. We are grateful to general manager of Alaska Ocean Seafood (Anacortes, WA), Jeff Hendricks, who provided possibility for direct observation of prespawning and spawning pollock behavior in the eastern Bering Sea. We also thank for valuable comments and review to Neal Williamson, Irina Benson, and Charles Hutchinson (AFSC) for valuable comments that improved the manuscript.

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  1. Pacific Research Fisheries Center (TINRO-Center), 4 Shevchenko Alley, Vladivostok, 690950, Russia

    Mikhail A. Stepanenko & Elena V. Gritsay

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  1. Mikhail A. Stepanenko
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  2. Elena V. Gritsay
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Correspondence to Mikhail A. Stepanenko.

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This article is sponsored by the Fisheries Research Agency, Yokohama, Japan.

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Stepanenko, M.A., Gritsay, E.V. Eastern Bering Sea pollock recruitment, abundance, distribution and approach to fishery management. Fish Sci 80, 151–160 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12562-014-0719-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12562-014-0719-9

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