Local - National Comparison

          In order to better understand the how the Pacific Northwest compares to other ecosystems in the Nation I did a couple of comparisons of Pacific Northwest Species populations to other similar species located around the nation. For this I used Commercial fishing landing numbers retrieved from government sources. While these are not at all direct population numbers, they do provide an idea of the population fluctuations that these various species are undergoing. The catch numbers are that of the adult members of species that are particularly affected by nearshore habitat degradation. While these don't provide a juvenile number it does again provide us with an idea of population size since juvenile and adult numbers are for the most part usually correlated with one another.

Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) - Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)

         The first comparison was made between the annual landings (in metric tons) of Atlantic Salmon in Maine, U.S and Chinook Salmon in Washington, U.S. (Figure 1). Since these are both members of the Family Salmonidae, which as shown in the local nearshore analysis is particularly affected by nearshore degradation, they seemed like perfect species to make the comparison with. Maine was chosen to compare with washington since it is at similar latitude but is instead in the Atlantic Ocean rather then the Pacific Ocean.

Figure 1. Data collected from the Department of Maine Resources (DMR 2012) and from NMFS (NOAA 2012). Sections where Maine Atlantic Salmon Landings dots are not present represent years where fishing of the Atlantic Salmon did not occur.

         Since These are different species in different environments the comparison must not be made with numbers (Metric Tons) but rather with stability and population trends. The Chinook Salmon shows an overall decline since 1976, however from approximately 1990 to present landing numbers appear to be stabilizing or even possibly increasing. This means that although numbers are low they appear to be somewhat sustainable at the moment. The Atlantic Salmon on the other hand had a significant increase in landing numbers from 1990 to 2000, but shows an overall decline from 2000 to the present. Landing numbers for the Atlantic Salmon appear to be far less consistent then that of the Chinook Salmon. This could be due to the fact that the fishing of Atlantic Salmon has primarily only been since 1990 and the population/fishing regulations have not yet reached a plateau, however it is unclear.   

Spanish Sardine (Sardinella aurita) - Pacific Sardine (Sardinops sagax)


        The second comparison made was between the Spanish Sardine landings in Florida, U.S. and Pacific Sardine landings in Washington, U.S. (Figure 2). Again I choose these because they are similar species that are both affected by nearshore habitat, however this time the local comparison was made with a more warm water species in the Atlantic Ocean. This comparison was chosen to get an idea of how not only location, but also how the type of Ocean affects the different species.

Figure 2. Both sets of Data was collected from the NMFS (NOAA 2012).

        In this comparison it is obvious that Pacific Sardines are far more abundant then Spanish Sardines, however the Pacific Sardines show a much more fluctuation in their population numbers. These fluctuations could be due to a natural population cycle, climate change, human activities, or possibly a variety of other causes. Whatever the cause may be the population seems to be on an increase since 2006, and whether or not it will level off in a few years around 16000 metric tons again will be interesting to see. Either way, hopefully this fluctuation is natural and will remain sustainable since the Pacific Sardines role in the Puget Sound ecosystem is a vital one.