Spatiotemporal Variation in Distribution, Size, and Relative Abundance within a Salish Sea Nearshore Forage Fish Community

Forage fish are schooling species commonly occurring in both offshore pelagic and nearshore coastal habitats. Beyond use by some for spawning, the dynamics of habitat not well understood. The objective our study was to evaluate spring–summer forage occurrence habitats Strait Juan de Fuca, Washington. We suspected that changes resulting from removal two large dams on Elwha River (2009–2011) may have altered presence abundance. Monthly beach seine sampling four regions along 40 km shoreline conducted April September between 2006 2019. caught nearly 600,000 fish, comprising 82 different species. Nine accounted 81.7% all fishes caught; most were classified as postlarvae juveniles based size. There spatial differences assemblage sites but no discernable year effects obvious impact dam community composition. Three represented 78.8% catch: Pacific Herring Clupea pallasii, Sand Lance Ammodytes hexapterus, Surf Smelt Hypomesus pretiosus. used a Bayesian generalized linear mixed model temporal variability probability these Each exhibited unique pattern intra-annual, interannual, regional fluctuations. progressively increased monthly, decreased, peaked June. Temporal variations distribution abundance likely driven life history biological requirements. speculate specific characteristics each region, including proximity spawning areas, spawn timing, extant current patterns, ecosystem processes, drove