Background

The marine survey aspect of the SALSEA programme was developed to concentrate sampling upon areas where stocks from many rivers co-occur since the declines in marine survival are experienced by large groups of stocks.  Considering that both Southern European and North American stocks co-occur at West Greenland as non-maturing 1SW fish, an additional survey programme was developed for the West Greenland area.  The intention was to increase the nature and extent of the baseline sampling programme at West Greenland and integrate it with marine research survey programmes in other oceanic areas.

NASCO's Parties to the West Greenland Commission (WGC) have worked co-operatively over the past three decades to collect biological data on Atlantic salmon harvested at West Greenland. An enhanced West Greenland sampling programme involving extensive sampling on a set number of fish harvested from the waters off West Greenland has been conducted since 2009.  This sampling is in addition to the baseline sampling programme (biological characteristics [length, weight, and age], continent of origin, and in some cases, river of origin via tag recoveries.).  Arrangements have been made with individual fishermen for the delivery of fresh whole fish to the individual samplers on an agreed upon schedule.  Sampling is organized in both time and space across the fishing season and the coast of West Greenland to maximize the temporal and spatial resolution of the data collected.

The enhanced sampling programme provides biological data related to the health and status of all sampled individuals.  Paramount to the sampling programme is the ability to identify the origin of each individual with a high level of precision to large stock complex groupings through genetic analysis.  Once the data can be collated by stock complex groupings, comparisons between complexes can be made and inferences can be developed related to stock complex performance (i.e. marine survival).

This enhanced sampling programme, SALSEA West Greenland, is recognized as complementary to SALSEA-Merge and SALSEA North America, which collectively hold promise in providing insights into the critical marine portion of the salmon’s life cycle.  The whole fresh fish required for scientific analysis (e.g. stomach content, isotope analysis) are fish that are part of the existing internal use fishery.  Strong coordination and cooperation with the Greenland Home Rule Government and the KNAPK in carrying out this scientific research programme is necessary to fully integrate the sampling programme into the internal use fishery.

A tri-lingual brochure (English, Danish and Greenlandic), explaining more about the sampling programme at West Greenland can be viewed here.

Goal

• To conduct an enhanced sampling programme of salmon harvested off the west coast of Greenland in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 and combine these data with data collected on these same cohorts of salmon sampled during concurrent oceanic surveys and subsequent in-river sampling programmes in home waters to make inferences related to the causal mechanisms behind stock-specific performance in the ocean (i.e. marine survival).

Investigator and Collaborators

• NOAA Fisheries Service (USA) – Project Coordinator
• United States Geological Survey (USA)
• Greenland Nature Institute (Greenland)
• Greenland Home Rule Government (Greenland)
• Department of Fisheries and Oceans (Canada)
• The Marine Institute (Ireland)
• Fisheries Research Services (UK (Scotland))
• Center for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (UK (England & Wales))
• North Atlantic Salmon Fund and the Atlantic Salmon Federation (Iceland, Canada, USA)
• NASCO’s International Atlantic Salmon Research Board