Habitat analysis of major fishing grounds on the continental shelf off Kodiak, Alaska

Abstract

"The continental shelf and upper slope of the Gulf of Alaska support diverse and commercially important communities of demersal fishes. Twenty-eight video-strip transects conducted from a research submersible, together with habitat maps based on interpreted multibeam sonar data, were used to classify distribution and abundance patterns of fishes relative to seafloor substrate type and water depth on Albatross and Portlock Banks on the Kodiak Shelf in the Gulf of Alaska. These associations were examined across spatial scales: ranging from tens of kilometer centimeters in size. A total of 5,778 fishes were recorded from 33 taxa. Fish community distribution patterns were largely correlated with depth and to a lesser extent with substrate type. Individual fish species habitat associations were also influenced by depth and substrate type; however, the spatial scale at which these factors were relevant varied by fish species. There was strong regional concordance among observed fish species habitat associations and those previously documented in studies from central California to the northern Gulf of Alaska. Although integrating substrates classified at different scales was challenging, the resulting information of scale specific habitat associations provides a more comprehensive understanding of how demersal fishes utilize benthic habitats"--Leaf iii