Mortality of larval walleye pollock Theragra chalcogramma in the western Gulf of Alaska, 1988-91

Mortality rates of larval walleye pollock Theragra chalcogramma were estimated from larval survey data from 1988 to 1991. Mortality estimates were based on cohort-specific losses between occupations of survey grids. Interannually, estimates of early feeding stage larval mortality rates ranged over an order of magnitude, from 0.045-0.43 day(-1), and declined sharply with age. There is some evidence that mortality rates of early feeding larvae tend to be negatively correlated with temperature and postively correlated with wind mixing.