Obsolete - AFSC/RACE/EcoFOCI: 2011 Gulf of Alaska IERP Cruise TN263/1TT11

A total of 105 stations were occupied. There were two sample grids (southeast Alaska and Yakutat Bay) and two transects in the vicinity of Kayak Island. At each station we sampled using paired 20 and 60 cm Bongo frames (150 and 500 micron mesh nets, respectively) and a Sameoto neuston sampler (500 micron mesh net) to estimate the abundance of zoo- and ichthyoplankton. A SeaBird SeaCat (SBE 19 plus) was used with the bongo frames to determine the depth of the samplers in real time and to measure temperature and conductivity. At a few selected stations depth-stratified plankton were obtained with a 1 meter squared MOCNESS (500 micron mesh nets) and at other selected stations microzooplankton were sampled with vertical tows of a CalVET net (53 micron mesh).

The objective of our portion of this cruise was to conduct a plankton survey in the region between the southern tip of Baranof Island in SE Alaska to Kayak Island in the Glf of Alaska to describe the patterns and processes most likely affecting the survival of 5 target taxa of fishes: walleye pollock, Pacific cod, arrowtooth flounder, sablefish, and Pacific Ocean perch. Other NPRB-funded components of the project were examing the physical (hydrography, currents) and chemical oceanography (nutrients, iron), rates of primary production, patterns of zooplankton, and patterns of seabirds.

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