Monitoring a Changing Environment
Many factors, both natural and human-caused, affect populations of fish, crab and marine mammals and marine ecosystems. Although natural factors cannot be controlled, and many human-caused factors are also outside the control of NOAA Fisheries, the scientific information collected and maintained by NOAA Fisheries informs and advises policymakers and managers. Understanding and predicting the health and productivity of marine ecosystems informs sustainable development. In the laboratory and in the field, Center scientists broke new ground in understanding more about Alaska ecosystems and how a changing marine environment may affect marine species. Having information like this at the ready enables policymakers and decision-makers to identify ways to sustain these valuable resources while capitalizing on the economic opportunities derived from them.
2016 Highlights:
Monitoring Third Consecutive Year of Warmer than Average Water Temperatures
In 2016, we conducted groundfish, crab and lower trophic level surveys of the eastern Bering Sea during a third consecutive warm year. We provided information from these surveys to the State of Alaska and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council for stock assessment and fishery evaluations. Data from these surveys continues to enhance our understanding of how warm and cold periods affect fisheries recruitment and food webs.
Predicting the Size of Future Fish Stocks
We entered our second year of a three-year climate-modeling project (the Alaska CLIMate Project or ACLIM). This multi-disciplinary project combines physical oceanography and fisheries science to project what the Bering Sea ecosystem will look like under different climate and fishing scenarios. This information will be invaluable to resource managers in making decisions about how best to maximize fish production in the future.
Fish Growth Affected by Ocean Acidification and Warmer Water Temperatures
Our laboratory experimental programs in Newport, Oregon, and Kodiak, Alaska, provided new insights this year into the impacts of ocean acidification on key fish and crab species from the North Pacific (red and blue king crab, and northern rock sole). We also successfully reared Arctic cod in a laboratory environment for the first time. Arctic cod is a cold-water fish that is a keystone species in Arctic food webs. As a result, scientists have been able to describe and compare the temperature-dependent growth of cod-like fishes in the eastern Bering and Chukchi seas. This knowledge will help predict potential winners and losers in changing environmental conditions and allow fishing businesses that are dependent on these resources to make informed financial decisions about their future.
Ongoing Studies Look at Effects of Environmental Conditions on Fish Populations
An important line of Center research increases our understanding of the environmental and biological factors that regulate fish populations and helps us predict population trends. For example, fish populations could be high now, but if our research tells us that environmental factors are not favorable for the survival of young fish, managers may decide to set more conservative catch limits. A classic example of this is research is for pollock in the eastern Bering Sea. When water temperatures are warmer than average, fewer pollock grow to maturity due to decreased availability of their nutrient-rich prey. Young pollock cannot store enough fat to make it through their first winter. When the eastern Bering Sea experiences many consecutive warm years, recruitment of young fishes may not be sufficient to offset the current levels of fishing and natural morality. Having this type of information makes it possible for resource managers to adjust their management actions to ensure a stable supply of fish and fishing jobs in the future.
Arctic Research
The Arctic has critical long-term strategic, ecological, cultural, and economic value. The Center has a unique role in the NOAA mission regarding the Arctic. We are on the frontline in carrying out three key strategies in the NOAA Arctic Action Plan: 1) Strengthen foundational science to understand and detect Arctic climate and ecosystem changes; 2) Improve stewardship and management of ocean and coastal resources in the Arctic; and 3) Advance resilient and healthy Arctic communities and economies.
This year we rolled out the Alaska Regional Action Plan for the Southeastern Bering Sea to meet climate information requirements as called for in the NOAA Fisheries Climate Science Strategy. This includes a multiyear program to investigate how the Arctic Large Marine Ecosystem will respond to a changing climate so that local communities and the nation can better capitalize on potential economic opportunities while ensuring responsible development that sustains marine resources and marine ecosystems.
The Center and its partners received funding from the North Pacific Research Board and the Bureau of Energy and Ocean Management to conduct a multiyear integrated ecosystem research program to investigate changes occurring in the Arctic Large Marine Ecosystem. NOAA continues to support the international Distributed Biological Observatory with Center scientists adding to the time series of measurements made at key geographical locations.
Center leadership remained engaged in several ongoing strategic efforts to coordinate research and monitor the Central Arctic, participating in the Fourth Meeting of Scientific Experts on Fish Stock in the Central Arctic in Tromso, Norway, and providing critical scientific support to the U.S. Chairmanship of the Arctic Council. As a result, we are now expanding a joint U.S.-Norway research initiative on bearded seals to include participants from across the Arctic. Center leadership is also co-chairing the new ICES Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment Working Group on Integrated Ecosystem Assessment of the Central Arctic Ocean (WGICA).
21st Ecosystem Report: Alaska Marine Ecosystem Considerations
Each year, the center assembles a comprehensive report of research conducted by academic and government scientists, Alaska Marine Ecosystem Considerations. This research provides a picture of the health and productivity of distinct large marine ecosystems by monitoring various indicators (e.g., temperature, lower trophic level biomass, biomass of forage fishes, changes in current patterns that transport fish and crab larvae, and unusual phenomena such as coccolithophore blooms), generating a ???report card??? of indicator condition. This report and other efforts by Center scientists to develop integrated ecosystem assessments enables fisheries managers at the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to better understand and consider how changes in the environment affect the species they are managing and plan for the future to promote sustainable development.