The Magadan branch of VNIRO has begun annual monitoring of the spawning conditions of Pacific herring on the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk

 

Observations of spawning herring will be conducted in the area of ​​the sea coast and at the model site – the Olskaya Lagoon. In late April – early May, herring runners have already begun to be noted in catches, however, the waters of the Olskaya Lagoon are still covered with ice, spawning approaches of Pacific herring to the coast of the Magadan Region are expected no earlier than mid-May, as the ice melts and the water warms up. The beginning of the mass spawning run of herring is usually timed to coincide with the period of warming up of the water in the coastal zone to 2-3°C, and for normal development of embryos, a temperature of at least 5-6°C is required.

 

It is planned that a scientific group consisting of three employees of the branch Oleg Prikoka, Alexey Abaev and Evgeny Fomin will conduct research on spawning herring until the end of May.

 

“This year’s weather conditions are somewhat different from the perennial ones, primarily due to large ice fields migrating across the waters of the Tauyskaya Bay depending on the tides and wind direction. Southern winds drive a large amount of broken ice into the Tauyskaya Bay, their slow melting does not contribute to the warming of the water,” noted the head of the Magadan branch of VNIRO Evgeny Metelev.

 

It is also planned to continue research using unmanned aerial systems (UAS), to delineate and assess the area of ​​herring spawning grounds. The degree of substrate normalization will be assessed, and materials on the biological characteristics of spawning herring will be collected. The obtained results will allow us to estimate the parameters of herring spawning in the current year, compare them with the data of previous years and predict the size of future generations of Pacific herring.

 

Press service of VNIRO