During the second quarter of 2014, Resource Ecology and Ecosystem Modeling (REEM) staff analyzed the contents of 4,589 groundfish stomachs. Laboratory analysis was completed and the resulting data error-checked and loaded into the AFSC’s Groundfish Food Habits database, resulting in 9,172 added records. The majority of the samples analyzed during the quarter were walleye pollock from the eastern Bering Sea and arrowtooth flounder from the Gulf of Alaska. Other program highlights include:
Russel Crandall, a University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences (SAFS) undergraduate, began working on his Capstone student project.
A scientist visiting from SAFS, Joseph Bizzarro, is currently working in the REEM stomach lab to identify prey items of Pacific skate species.
Stomach sampling was performed by fisheries observers on 147 walleye pollock, 44 arrowtooth flounder and 5 Pacific cod from the eastern Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands region.
Twenty stomach sampling kits for fisheries observers were assembled in Dutch Harbor, Alaska.
Program outreach activities included presentations and lab tours for the Western Washington University’s Multicultural Initiative in the Marine Sciences: Undergraduate Participation (MIMSUP) program. Program staff also gave presentations and led educational activities to groups visiting the NOAA campus during the NOAA Open House on 15-16 May. The REEM educational display and the fish food habits hands-on activities were presented during a visit from the Pacific Science Center’s Marine Science Student Camp on 24 June.
By Troy Buckley, Geoff Lang, Mei-Sun Yang, Richard Hibpshman,
Kimberly Sawyer, Caroline Robinson and Sean Rohan
