Salmon energy - data on the feeding, growth, condition and energetics of juvenile pink salmon field accomplished through sampling, laboratory analyses and modeling. Gulf of Alaska 2001-2004

The goal of the salmon energy project is to determine how pink salmon in the northern Gulf of Alaska are affected by variation in the plankton production system during their first months at sea. This is accomplished through an integrated project that includes field sampling, laboratory analyses and modeling. This project documents temporal and spatial variation in prey use and availability, and assess the effects of the shelf environment by measuring growth and condition of pink salmon. It uses spatially-explicit foraging/bioenergetic modeling to understand observed patterns in feeding, growth and condition. Fish of hatchery origin, identified by thermal otolith marks, are of particular interest, as the marine survival of each hatchery cohort will be available a year after those fish enter the marine environment. Sampling was conducted from 2001-2003 onboard the F/V Great Pacific and the R/V Miller Freeman.