High Temporal and Spatial Resolution Study of Herring Condition in Prince William Sound, Energetics Data, Prince William Sound, 2011-2012, EVOS Herring Program

These data are part of the Herring Program of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council, project numbers 12120111-M and 13120111-M, which is a multi-faceted study to determine why herring populations in Prince William Sound (PWS) remain depressed since the early 1990s.

Described here is a single process study project that is a part of an integrative program that will enhance the current monitoring efforts, and examine aspects of particular life stages to allow better modeling of PWS herring populations. The long-term goal of the program is to improve predictive models of herring stocks through observations and research. Fine-scale temporal and spatial variability at designated herring monitoring sites has never been characterized and therefore remains a data gap with potential ramifications for interpreting observed variation of herring condition that is part of the herring monitoring program as well as the aforementioned modeling.

The dataset archived here represent the Prince William Sound Science Center (PWSSC) component of the Juvenile Herring Intensive Condition Monitoring (HCM) project. The data are measures of age-0 herring morphology and energetic condition based on carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios and bomb calorimetry of fish sampled with high temporal and spatial resolution from nursery bays located throughout PWS during 2011 and 2012. To assess fine-scale temporal variability, herring were collected on research cruises in Simpson Bay (a key monitoring site for juvenile herring since the 1990’s) monthly from September 2011 until June 2012. To assess fine-scale spatial variability, sampling occurred in November and March, 2011 to 2012 in five separate sub-areas of a more extensive Simpson Bay than what is typically done during surveys. Samples were frozen and transported by to the Prince William Sounds Science Center in Cordova, Alaska for length and weight measurements and chemical analysis. The information is presented as a .csv file generated from a master Access database developed and managed by PWSSC.