Materials and Methods 



In June 1980 and May, June, July, and August 

 1981, 10-d sampling cruises were conducted. In 

 1980, 44 collections were made with a purse 

 seine. Six sets were made during the night at 

 two stations in 2,100-2,200 m of water about 100 

 km offshore from the mouth of the Columbia 

 River. Thirty-five sets were made during the day 

 along three transects located north and south of 

 the mouth of the Columbia River and off the 

 mouth of the Yaquina River. These transects ex- 

 tended from the 40 m isobath to 40 km offshore. 

 An additional three sets were made along the 

 shore 40-50 km south of the Columbia River. 

 During the 1981 cruises, 273 sets of the purse 

 seine were made along 12 transects, from north of 

 the Columbia River to south of Coos Bay (Fig. 1). 

 Transects were sampled from the 40 m isobath to 

 distances ranging from 10 to 50 km offshore. Be- 

 cause of time constraints, not all 12 transects 

 were sampled on each cruise. Both day and night 

 samples were taken in 1981. Secchi depths were 

 determined during day hauls made in June, July, 

 and August 1981. 



Samples were collected with herring purse 

 seines operated from chartered commercial fish- 

 ing vessels. The cruises in 1980 and in May and 

 June 1981 used a 457 m long purse seine bor- 

 rowed from the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service in Seattle. This net fished about 9 m deep 

 and sampled about 150,000 m 3 of water. A 457 m 

 long commercial herring seine was used in July 

 and August 1981; it fished about 15 m deep and 

 enclosed about 250,000 m 3 of water. Both nets 

 were constructed of 30 mm stretched mesh. 



Immediately after capture, king-of-the- 

 salmon were preserved in 10% Formalin 1 and re- 

 turned to the laboratory. Preserved lengths and 

 weights were then measured, and stomachs were 

 removed for analysis. Stomach contents were 

 sorted to the lowest practical taxonomic level. 

 Prey were then counted, blotted dry, and 

 weighed to the nearest 0.001 g. 



Results and Discussion 



In June 1980, 22 juvenile king-of-the-salmon 

 were collected in five of the six night sets made 

 100 km offshore from the mouth of the Columbia 

 River. No other specimens were collected in any 



4 Reference to trade names does not imply endorsement by 

 the National Marine Fisheries Service. NOAA. 



i — i — i — i — r 



7 15 



' v' d ' OR -1 



# June 1980 

 □ May 1981 

 O June 1981 

 A August 1981 



Figure 1.— Transects off the Oregon coast sampled during 

 1980 and 1981, and locations of capture of juvenile king-of-the- 

 salmon. Numbers above symbols indicate how many 

 juveniles were taken at that station. 



of the sets made closer to the shore in 1980. In 

 1981, specimens were taken in both day and 

 night sets. Sixteen juveniles were taken from the 

 Coos Bay region in June and one was taken in 

 August, which were the only months that this 

 area was sampled. Four juveniles were taken off- 

 shore from the Columbia River in May and June, 

 and a single fish was caught at the westernmost 

 station of the Yaquina River transect in June 

 (Fig. 1). 



162 



