Petition to List Lynn Canal Pacific Herring under the Endangered ...

1984). The corresponding stray rates of 6-34% indicate there is more than
sufficient gene flow between neighboring spawning areas to compromise the
ability of allozyme markers to discriminate between putative stocks (Smith and
Jamieson 1986; Bembo et al. 1996; Waples 1998). Waples (1998) warned,
“because the amount of migration necessary to obscure most genetic evidence of
stock structure (only a handful of individuals per generation) is generally
inconsequential as a force for rebuilding depleted populations on a time scale of
interest to humans, there is no guarantee that genetic methods alone will provide
sufficient precision for key management decisions involving marine species”.
(Otis and Heintz 2003).
4. Distinct Spawning Time and Location
The Lynn Canal Herring are separated from other populations of herring in
Southeast Alaska by a distinct spawning time. Skud (1959) first described different
spawning times as follows:
Each year the initial spawning in Southeastern Alaska occurs in the vicinity of
Craig during late March. Kah Shakes, Sitka, and Auke Bay spawnings follow and
are usually completed in early May. Spawning times in Behm Canal, Etolin
Island, and Frederick Sound are variable and have been reported in late April,
May, and early June. Some areas do not conform to the northerly and westerly
progression in spawning time described by Rounsefell (1930).
(Skud 1959: 16).
5. Distinct Wintering and Summer Feeding Location and
Migration
The wintering grounds and summer feeding grounds for Lynn Canal Herring are
entirely within the confines of Lynn Canal and adjacent waters. Whereas other Pacific
Herring populations in Southeast Alaska venture further out into the open ocean for
summer feeding (i.e. Sitka population) Lynn Canal Herring remain in Lynn Canal and do
not undergo a large migration (Carlson 1980). In addition, the wintering grounds for
Lynn Canal Herring near Auke Bay also isolate them from other herring populations in
Southeast Alaska (Carlson 1980).
Based on Carlson (1980) NMFS has described the Lynn Canal Herring as a
“discrete population” of the Pacific herring since at least 1980.
The Lynn Canal/Auke Bay herring stock is a discrete population distinguishable
by their concentration for overwintering in Auke Bay and Fritz Cove (Carlson
1980). The location of this wintering area probably accounts, in part, for the
geographic proximity of the observed major spawning grounds.
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