included presentations of the distribution of 

 properties because in most instances the 

 cruises were to some degree coordinated with 

 the cruises of other INPFC members: Japan 

 and Canada; thus, any attempt to define con- 

 ditions within a given region without additional 

 data from these sources could be possibly not 

 only incomplete but also misleading. An atlas 

 combining data collected by Canada, Japan, and 

 U.S. agencies during the summer of 1958 has 

 been compiled by Dodimead and Favorite 

 (1961), and a complete summary of oceano- 

 graphic conditions in the Subarctic Pacific 

 region during 1955 to 1960 is being compiled 

 by a subcommittee on Oceanography appointed 

 by INPFC. 



This report presents some results of the 

 oceanographic program aboard the chartered 

 MV Bertha Ann during a fishery-oceanographic 

 cruise from February to April 1962. The 

 locations of the oceanographic stations and 

 bathythermograph (BT) lowerings are shown 

 in figure 1. Previous investigations had shown 

 that the water structure south of the Aleutian 

 Islands was very complex, and a series of 

 oceanographic stations at 30-mile intervals 

 was planned along long. 175° and 165° W. To 

 ensure that observations were made far enough 

 southward to locate the salinity front assumed 

 to be in the vicinity of lat. 41° N., a salinom- 

 eter was installed aboard the vessel and water 

 samples were analyzed aboard ship as they 

 were collected. Time lost in awaiting fishing 

 weather during the southern leg on long. 175° 

 W. prevented obtaining observations on long. 

 165° W., and further delays, caused by weather, 

 necessitated terminating the southern leg on 

 long. 155° W. at lat. 46° N. 



Because of the considerable distance between 

 the three lines of stations (long. 175° W., 155° 

 W., and east-west line along approximately 

 lat. 47° N.), discussion of oceanographic con- 

 ditions has been limited to the vertical dis- 

 tribution of properties along these legs only. 

 No attempt has been made to show any hori- 

 zontal continuity of properties between the 

 lines occupied. 



The main objective of the oceanographic 

 observations was to determine the winter 

 conditions in the central Subarctic region and 

 thereby ascertain the winter environment of the 



Pacific salmon. Although oceanographic data 

 are available from the following winter cruises, 

 none of these provided any extensive data in 

 the central part of the region: cruises by the 

 International Fisheries Commission during 

 January 1927, 1928, and 1929 in the Gulf of 

 Alaska (McEwen, Thompson, and VanCleve, 

 1930; Thompson, McEwen, and VanCleve, 1936); 

 USS Serrano during March 1949 in the Gulf of 

 Alaska (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 

 1957); HMCS Sault Ste. Marie during March 1952 

 off the coast of British Columbia (Doe, 1955); 

 MV Hugh M. Smith during January to March 

 1954 in the central mid- Pacific south of lat. 

 40° N. (McGary and Stroup, 1956); USCGC 

 Northwind during February to April 1955 in the 

 eastern Bering Sea (U.S. Navy Hydrographic 

 Office, 1958); various Canadian vessels manned 

 by personnel from the Pacific Oceanographic 

 Group, Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 

 during each winter since 1957 in the north- 

 eastern North Pacific (Fisheries Research 

 Board of Canada, 1957, 1958, and 1959; 

 Dodimead, Abbott-Smith, and Hollister, 1960); 

 and RV Vityaz during October 1958 to March 

 1959 in the North Pacific^ 



A great amount of information concerning 

 the salmon environment had been learned as a 

 result of spring and summer cruises during 

 other years. The distribution of Bristol Bay 

 red salmon in the Aleutian area during spring 

 and summer was shown to be closely related 

 to the extent of the Alaskan Stream, which 

 flows westward south of the Aleutian Islands 

 (INPFC, 1958). Temperature data collected 

 during summer 1957 showsd that immediately 

 southward of the Aleutians, water at 50 to 

 over 200 meters depth was in the 3° C. range 

 during June, but by August, the flow of warm 

 water out of the Gulf of Alaska increased the 

 water temperature in this stratum in excess 

 of 5° C. (INPFC, 1959). Knowledge of the 

 westward extent and the velocity of the Alaskan 

 Stream in this area during the winter was 

 needed in order to interpret correctly the 

 conditions encountered during spring. 



Favorite and Hanavan (1963) showed that the 

 southern extent of the shallow temperature- 

 minimum stratum indicated by the almost 



* Data available at National Oceanographic Data Center, 

 Washington, D.C. [Unpublished.] 



