Ecosystem Approaches for Fisheries Management 499 Alaska Sea Grant College Program • AK-SG-99-01, 1999 Identifying Seasonal Spatial Scale for the Ecological Analysis of Herring and Other Forage Fish in Prince William Sound, Alaska Evelyn D. Brown University of Alaska Fairbanks, Institute of Marine Science, Fairbanks, Alaska Jia Wang University of Alaska Fairbanks, International Arctic Research Center, Fairbanks, Alaska Shari L. Vaughan Prince William Sound Science Center, Cordova, Alaska Brenda L. Norcross University of Alaska Fairbanks, Institute of Marine Science, Fairbanks, Alaska Extended Abstract Recently there has been increasing interest in the distribution, abundance, and ecology of forage fish populations because of the crucial role they play in nearshore and pelagic ecosystems. However, relatively little is known about the ecology of forage fishes in Alaska. From 1995 to 1997 extensive ecosystem studies were conducted in response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. Monthly broadscale aerial surveys were included in those studies for the purpose of determining distribution and abun- dance of juvenile Pacific herring (Clupea pallasi) and other surface-school- ing forage fishes (Brown and Norcross 1997). Many other types of physical and biological data were also available for the same area and dates that could be used for ecological analyses of forage fishes. In order to proceed with hypothesis-driven science, we recognized that basic descriptive life history parameters and the spatial overlap with other ecological param- eters needed to be documented first. Therefore, a general research goal