Results of phenotypical studies of pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. in 1990-2010
Results of phenotypical studies of Pacific salmon, accomplished by staff of KamchatNIRO in 1990-2010, are performed in several principal blocks. 1) Introduction and current use of the methods, based on scale criteria and practicing internationally in population biology. Working out new automatic methods for structural processing of scales and otoliths. 2) Carrying out extensive work to provide intraspecific differentiation and revealing main regional complexes of Pacific salmon stocks in Asia and North America from phenotypes of scale structure. Using results of the work as baseline models. 3) Processing massive pool of scale images, obtained as a result of long-term drift-net surveys. Figuring out general trends in the ratio and spatial-temporal distribution of regional complexes of stocks of mature salmons on their prespawning routs within the EEZ of RF are figured out. 4) Preliminary data about intraspecific structure of Pacific salmon feeding aggregations in the Western Bering Sea in summer and autumn in the early 2000s are obtained. Abundance of Asian and American stocks in mentioned region is estimated. 5) Necessary prerequisites for further development of phenotypic researches in TINRO system are created.