Telemetry and Genetic Identity of Chinook Salmon in AK 2 Summary 2024

About

Chinook salmon is an iconic species found throughout the North Pacific Ocean, yet little is known about its ocean ecology. The U.S. Navy conducts training exercises in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Temporary Maritime Activities Area (TMAA), and Western Maneuver Area (WMA). The Navy is interested in understanding the overlap of occurrence between populations of Chinook salmon and these training activities. To provide insights into Chinook salmon ocean ecology while occupying waters of the North Pacific Ocean (NPO), including overlap with the TMAA and WMA, we have previously deployed 183 pop-up satellite archival tags (PSATs) on Chinook salmon at eight locations around the GOA, and collected tissue samples to determine stock of origin of tagged fish. These analyses will provide additional insights into movement, depth distribution, temperature occupancy, and natural mortality of Chinook salmon in the North Pacific Ocean, particularly to the west of previous tag deployments.