Now we have threads announcing record salmon harvests in Alaska
https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060104389
"The dismal salmon runs across the rest of Alaska this year have been attributed to changes in the Gulf of Alaska, including the mysterious "blob" of unusually warm water that plagued the region a few years ago, and increased competition from other salmon species (
Greenwire, Oct. 23).
Bristol Bay's sockeye weren't affected by those factors because salmon born in Bristol Bay's rivers and streams spend most of their ocean lives in the southeast Bering Sea, not the Gulf of Alaska.
"When they enter the marine environment, it's a different environment that wasn't directly influenced by the blob," said Greg Ruggerone, a Washington state-based scientist who has been studying Alaskan salmon since 1979.
Even though some sockeye from Bristol Bay could have swum into the Gulf of Alaska during their time in the ocean, by the time they got there from Bristol Bay, scientists say, they were likely large enough to survive the blob and fend for themselves against competitors.
"The blob" — which disappeared in 2016 as mysteriously as it appeared — was an anomaly.
But there is evidence Bristol Bay sockeye will continue to have an advantage over their southern relatives for years to come because climate change is causing the Gulf of Alaska to warm faster than the southern Bering Sea, where most Bristol Bay sockeye spend their ocean lives.
"When they leave fresh water, they are entering an area that's warmer than in the past but not as warm as the blob and cooler than what a normal Gulf of Alaska would look like," said Ed Farley, program manager for the Ecosystem Monitoring and Assessment Program at NOAA's Alaska Fisheries Science Center."
