NORTHEAST PACIFIC ALBACORE OCEANOGRAPHY 



SURVEY, 1961 



by 



R. W. Owen, Jr. 

 Fishery Biologist Research 

 Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 

 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

 San Diego, California 



ABSTRACT 



Oceanographic and biological data obtained on the first of a series of albacore 

 oceanography cruises are presented in this report, together with a statement of the 

 methods employed. The cruises are a cooperative venture between the Bureau of 

 Commercial Fisheries Biological Laboratory, San Diego, Calif., and the Exploratory 

 Fishing and Gear Research Base, Seattle, Wash. 



The first cruise was made during July 1961 between latitudes 420N. to 480N. and 

 longitudes 1250 30' W. to 132° w. Measured were salinity, temperature, and oxygen 

 concentration from to 600 meters, zooplankton standing crop from to 140 meters, 

 surface phytoplankton pigments and productivity, and incoming solar radiation. Other 

 activities included trolling and gill netting for albacore, logging weather observa- 

 tions, and collecting with nightlights. 



INTRODUCTION 



The present work is a report on the first 

 of a series of annual oceanography cruises 

 planned for the region off the coasts of Wash- 

 ington and Oregon at the time of year when 

 albacore, Thunnus alalunga (Bonnaterre), usually 

 are available. The survey was a cooperative 

 venture of the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 

 Biological Laboratory, San Diego, Calif,, with 

 the Bureau's Exploratory Fishing and Gear 

 Research Base, Seattle, Wash. The vessel used 

 was M/V John N. Cobb, Operated by the latter 

 group. The principal objective of the cruise 

 was to provide data for investigating relation- 



ships between availability of albacore and 

 mensurable features of the environment. 



In Washington-Oregon coastal waters, 

 marked fluctuations in the annual commercial 

 catch of albacore have characterized this 

 fishery since its inception in 1937, and ap- 

 parently are related to variable features of the 

 oceanic environment (Alverson, 1961; Johnson, 

 1962), Exploratory fishing for albacore was 

 conducted in this area from 1949 to 1952 and 

 in 1956 as part of the North Pacific Explora- 

 tory Fishing Program of the Bureau of Com- 

 mercial Fisheries (Powell and Hildebrand, 

 1950; Powell, Alverson, and Livingstone, 1952; 



