Manned submersible Delta.

Adult sablefish.

The Auke Bay Laboratories’ Marine Ecology and Stock Assessment (MESA) Program is at the center of ABL's two key functions; stock assessment and habitat assessment. MESA supports the NMFS mission and especially NOAA’s Mission Goal: Protect, Restore, and Manage the use of Coastal and Ocean Resources Through an Ecosystem Approach to Management. In addition, MESA research supports the first objective under NOAA’s Climate Goal: Understand and predict the consequences of climate variability and change on marine ecosystems. A thorough description of current activities is found in the 2009 annual report to the Technical Subcommittee of the US- Canada Groundfish Committee (TSC). Primary MESA program functions are:

Stock assessment: Provides information needed by NOAA Fisheries and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) to manage the Alaska groundfish resource. Scientists use advanced population modeling techniques to integrate biological observations and theoretical considerations into stock assessments that recommend annual groundfish quotas. These are in turn used by the NPFMC to manage fisheries within the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Alaska. Active research to improve management recommendations includes the use of oceanographic, energetic, and satellite data to improve recruitment predictions, genetic stock structure of rockfish, and early life history studies on sablefish, pollock, sharks, rockfish, and salmon.

Northern rockfish in Aleutian corals.

Scientist at work.

Surveys and field studies: Includes the annual longline survey, the Bering Arctic Subarctic Integrated Survey (BASIS), and a wide variety of special at-sea studies. The Alaska longline survey assesses groundfish on the continental slope of Alaska. Stock status information is collected for a number of important groundfish species, particularly sablefish, rockfish, and grenadiers. Special projects and extensive tagging of sablefish, thornyhead rockfish, Greenland turbot, and lingcod are integral functions of the survey. The extensive tagging program on the longline survey has provided a wealth of life history information, including migration and exploitation rate estimates, and diel movement patterns. Collaborations with marine mammal scientists are focusing on fishery interactions with marine mammals, such as sperm whale longline depredation of sablefish. The Bering Arctic Subarctic Integrated Survey (BASIS) is an epi-pelagic trawl survey of the Bering Sea with expansions to the Chukchi Sea, most recently in 2007. A suite of survey objectives includes providing biological indices of abundance, distribution, diet, and fitness of salmon and age-0 pollock and Pacific cod; sampling of ocean processes and plankton; and examining the impacts of climate change on fishery resources.

Marine ecology research: Focuses on pelagic, benthic, and estuarine fish habitat; deep sea corals/sponges; and commercial and forage species, to improve stock assessment parameters and to protect and define essential fish habitat (EFH). Through the use of manned submersibles and towed cameras, MESA scientists have identified habitat associations of fish species, discovered extensive coral gardens in the Aleutian Islands, and provided insights into the catchability of trawl gear for groundfish species.High resolution multibeam sonar data have been processed to generate benthic habitat maps of fishing grounds in the Gulf of Alaska and the Aleutian distribution of cold water coral habitat. Analysis of near-shore and estuarine EFH provides information on juvenile groundfish and salmon. Future studies will contrast regions of the Gulf of Alaska and characterize a critical environmental window that fish must pass through during their first year of life as they cross from offshore spawning to nearshore settlement areas.

MESA Program Manager:
Phillip Rigby
Auke Bay Laboratories
Alaska Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries

Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute
17109 Pt Lena Loop Rd
Juneau, AK 99801
(907) 789–6653
Phillip.Rigby@noaa.gov

Featured Research, Publications, Posters, Reports, and Activities

• CIECIEL, K., E. V. FARLEY, Jr., and L. B. EISNER. 2009. Jellyfish and juvenile salmon associations with oceanographic characteristics during warm and cool years in the eastern Bering Sea. N. Pac. Anadr. Fish Comm. Bull. 5:209-224. (.pdf, 1.24 MB).  Online.
   
• FARLEY, E. V., Jr. 2009. Summary and future plan of BASIS. N. Pac. Anadr. Fish Comm. Bull. 5:355-357. (.pdf, 488 KB).  Online.
   
• FARLEY, E. V., Jr., and J. H. MOSS. 2009. Growth rate potential of juvenile chum salmon on the eastern Bering Sea shelf: an assessment of salmon carrying capacity. N. Pac. Anadr. Fish Comm. Bull. 5:265-277. (.pdf, 2.35 MB).  Online.
   
• MOSS, J. H., J. M. MURPHY, E. V. FARLEY, Jr., L. B. EISNER, and A. G . ANDREWS. 2009. Juvenile pink and chum salmon distribution, diet, and growth in the northern Bering and Chukchi seas. N. Pac. Anadr. Fish Comm. Bull. 5:191-196. (.pdf, 1.23 MB).  Online.
   
• ANDREWS, A. G., E. V. FARLEY, Jr., J. H. MOSS, J. M. MURPHY, and E. F. HUSOE. 2009. Energy density and length of juvenile pink salmon Oncorhynchus gorbuscha in the eastern Bering Sea from 2004 to 2007: a period of relatively warm and cool sea surface temperatures. N. Pac. Anadr. Fish Comm. Bull. 5:183-189. (.pdf, 988 KB).  Online.
   
• MARTINSON, E. C., J. H. HELLE, D. L. SCARNECCHIA, and H. H. STOKES. 2009. Alaska sockeye salmon scale patterns as indicators of climatic and oceanic shifts in the North Pacific Ocean, 1922–2000. N. Pac. Anadr. Fish Comm. Bull. 5:177-182. (.pdf, 535 KB).  Online.
   
• MURPHY, J. M., W. D. TEMPLIN, E. V. FARLEY, Jr., and J. E. SEEB. 2009. Stock-structured distribution of western Alaska and Yukon juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) from United States BASIS surveys, 2002–2007. N. Pac. Anadr. Fish Comm. Bull. 5: 5:51-59. (.pdf, 1.35 MB).  Online.
   
• ANDREWS, A. H., R. P. STONE, C. C. LUNDSTROM, and A. P. DeVOGELAERE. 2009. Growth rate and age determination of bamboo corals from the northeastern Pacific Ocean using refined 210Pb dating. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 397:173-185. (.pdf, 728 KB).  Online.
   
• HEIFETZ, J., R. P. STONE, and S. K. SHOTWELL. 2009. Damage and disturbance to coral and sponge habitat of the Aleutian Archipelago. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 397:295-303. (.pdf, 586 KB).  Online.
   
• MOSS, J. H., D. A. BEAUCHAMP, A. D. CROSS, E. V. FARLEY, J. M. MURPHY, J. H. HELLE, R. V. WALKER, and K. W. MYERS. 2009. Bioenergetic model estimates of interannual and spatial patterns in consumption demand and growth potential of juvenile pink salmon (Onchorhynchus gorbuscha) in the Gulf of Alaska. Deep Sea Res. II 56:2553-2559. 
   
• Trawl Survey Designs for Reducing Uncertainty in Biomass Estimates for Patchily-Distributed Species
  By:  PAUL SPENCER, DANA HANSELMAN, DENISE McKELVEY
  Conference:  Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2010
  (2010 poster, .pdf, 251KB)   Online.
   
• Recent Changes in Summer Zooplankton Abundance and Biomass in the Eastern Bering Sea
  By:  JEFFREY M. NAPP, LISA B. EISNER, EDWARD W. FARLEY, PHYLLIS J. STABENO, GEORGE L. HUNT, Jr.
  Conference:  Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2010
  (2010 poster, .pdf, 885KB)   Online.
   

See the publications and poster databases for additional listings.