AFSC/ABL: Juvenile chum salmon allozyme stock identification, Bering Sea 2002

Genetic stock identification techniques were used to identify the origin and provide stock-specific migration and distribution patterns of juvenile chum (Oncorhynchus keta) salmon caught during annual fall surveys (2002) along the eastern Bering Sea (Fig. 1). Preliminary results indicate that: 1) Yukon River Fall chum salmon are widely distributed from offshore of the Yukon River, eastward to 62B0N, 172B0W, and as far south as Nunivak Island (60B0N), suggesting a southwesterly migration pathway along the Bering Sea shelf; 2) juvenile chum salmon from the Kuskokwim River are narrowly distributed south of Nunivak Island from the mouth of the Kuskokwim River, south to 58B0N, and as far west as 168B0W, suggesting a westerly migration pathway along the Bering Sea shelf; and 3) northern Russia juvenile chum salmon stocks (mainly stocks from rivers draining into the Gulf of Anadyr) are distributed as far east as 62B0N, 171B0W (Fig. 2). These results are unique in that they represent the first attempt to identify early marine distribution and migration of juvenile chum salmon stocks on the eastern Bering Sea shelf.