NOAA Study Focuses on Marine Heatwave Impacts on Chum Salmon
Federal fisheries scientists who have been studying Western Alaska chum salmon for nearly two decades say recent marine heatwaves in the eastern Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska may have had a critical role in the survival of juvenile chum salmon.
The study, published Nov. 30 by NOAA Fisheries, states that researchers also suspect the marine heatwaves subsequently impacted adult chum salmon returning to western Alaska rivers.
The study was led by Ed Farley, a program manager with the Alaska Fisheries Science Center and co-author Kathrine Howard, a statewide fishery scientist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
“Recent declines in chum salmon and subsequent closures of commercial and subsistence fisheries in western Alaska, coinciding with years of record warm water tempe...
