Resource Ecology & Ecosystem Modeling (REEM) Program
Fish Stomach Collection and Lab Analysis
Laboratory analysis was performed on 2,904 groundfish stomachs from the eastern Bering Sea and on 677 groundfish stomachs from the Gulf of Alaska. A total of 620 stomachs were collected during the initial legs of the Gulf of Alaska trawl survey and 533 stomachs were analyzed at sea. Fisheries observers collected 1,277 stomach samples from the Bering Sea. A total of 8,311 records were added to the groundfish food habits database.
By Troy Buckley, Geoff Lang, Mei-Sun Yang, and Katie Dodd
Multispecies and Ecosystem Modeling
As part of essential fish habitat (EFH) research, scientists from the Resource Ecology & Ecosystem Modeling (REEM) Program developed a method for mapping predicted growth rates from stomach contents analysis overlayed with the energetic costs of foraging as determined from bioenergetics models for walleye pollock.
These maps are being made for the range of observed conditions (e.g., “cold years” vs. “warm years”) and will be available for other modeling efforts, such as for coupling with spatially explicit lower trophic level production models and fish migration models. An extensive literature review was performed to gather data on prey quality (caloric density) from available sources.
A bioenergetics model was also implemented for pollock which makes direct use of diet composition and water temperature data in the groundfish food habits database. The initial results of this work are currently being examined and reviewed.
