CRUISE REPORT

Cruise Number: MF02-07

FOCI Number: 4MF02

Ship:

NOAA Ship Miller Freeman

Area of Operations:

Shelikof Strait, Gulf of Alaska

Itinerary:

Date depart / port: May 23, 2002 / Dutch Harbor, AK

Date arrive / port: June 1, 2002 / Kodiak, AK

Participating organizations:

NOAA - Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC)

Chief Scientist:

Annette Brown      F / AFSC

(206) 526-6523

Annette.Brown@noaa.gov

Personnel:

Jay Clark	M / AFSC
Steve Porter	M / AFSC
Matt Wilson	M / AFSC

Cruise Objectives:

The objectives of this cruise were to conduct an ichthyoplankton survey and process oriented studies in the region between Unimak Pass, the Shumagin Islands, and through Shelikof Strait to Kodiak Island, Alaska to estimate the abundance of young walleye pollock larvae, their transport, and factors influencing their survival.  We also occupied six of the stations on Line 8 to continue our time series of environmental and biological conditions in Shelikof Strait.

Summary of Operations:

Operation	Tows
20cm bongo (20Bon)	6
60cm bongo (60Bon)	131
Seabird SeaCAT CTD (CAT)	131
CTD with bottle samples (CTDB)	6
Samples Collected		Tows	Number
SeaBird SeaCat CTD (CAT)		131
Extracted chlorophyll (Chlor)		6	36
SeaBird CTD (CTD)		6
Frozen eulachon larvae (Eul-froz)		3	9
Flathead sole egg (FHS-egg)		50	666
Stimulated fluorescence collected during CTD casts (Fluor)		6
Larval pollock collected for histological analysis (L-Hist)		19	180
Larval pollock collected for otolith analysis (L-Oto)		86	2120
Microzooplankton samples preserved in formalin (MZ)		6	54
Nutrient samples collected from CTD casts (Nut)		6	36
Photosynthetically Active Radiation data collected during CTD casts		6
(PAR)
Quantitative tow preserved in formalin (QTowF)		143	159
Rouch count of pollock larvae (RCountL)		123	2317

Summary of Cruise:

Narrative:

This late larval survey for walleye pollock conducted in the Gulf of Alaska included 131 stations.  The standard gear for this survey was the 60-cm bongos with .505-mm mesh netting.  Tows were conducted to 100 meters or 10 meters off the bottom where water depth was shallower.  While working up the grid toward Kodiak Island, we occupied six of the stations on Line 8.  Line 8 sampling included 20/60 cm bongos and CTDBs for chlorophyll, microzooplankton, and nutrients. The 60-cm bongos were fitted with .505-mm mesh on net 1 and .333-mm mesh on net 2.  After Line 8, 60-cm bongos were resumed up Shelikof Strait.

Days Lost to Weather:

None

Days Lost to Equipment Failure:

None

Recommendations:

None

Acknowledgments:

The scientific party would like to acknowledge the hard work and support of the officers and crew of the Miller Freeman. 

We would particularly like to thank the Survey Department for their excellent work during this survey.

Attachments:

Table 1 Cruise Summary

Figure 1 Station Map