Seabird and Forage Fish Ecology Program

The goal of this long term program is to quantify changes and causes of population trends in seabird species in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea. One of the main drivers of shifts in the distribution and abundance of seabirds is their prey, forage fish. Thus, we also characterize fluctuations in forage fish abundance, their distribution and abundance, and the response of predators such as seabirds and marine mammals.

Abstract

The Department of the Interior has responsibility for all marine birds in the U.S., and >95% of these reside in Alaska and the North Pacific. Essential to the conservation and management of seabirds are measures of population status and trends, and some understanding of how natural and anthropogenic factors influence population biology. For the latter, we must characterize the response of seabirds to changes in oceanography and marine climate, and resulting fluctuations in prey abundance, distribution and quality. Long-term tasks that form the core of the USGS Alaska Science Center forage fish, seabird and ecosystem studies include compilation and analyses of data on the pelagic distribution of marine birds in the North Pacific relative to biological oceanography and changes in climate; development of methods for censusing and monitoring trends in seabird populations on land and at sea; studies of oceanography, plankton, forage fish and seabirds around major seabird colonies in Alaska; focused studies of rare, threatened or endangered seabirds; and measuring the impact of human-related sources of mortality on seabirds, including subsistence harvest, oil pollution, vessel disturbance, and by-catch in fishing gear.

Products

Title	Type
Alaska Forage Fish Database (AFFD)	Data
Age-0 Sablefish size and growth indices from seabird diets at Middleton Island, Gulf of Alaska	Publication
Age-0 Sablefish Size and Growth Indices from Seabird Diets at Middleton Island, Alaska	Data
SeaLog Software	Other
Seabird Diet Data Collected on Middleton Island, Gulf of Alaska	Data
Gridded Seabird Density Estimates in Lower Cook Inlet, Alaska	Data
Assessing the Status and Trends of Seabirds and Forage Fish in Lower Cook Inlet, Alaska	Data
Spatial and temporal dynamics of Pacific capelin (Mallotus catervarius) in the Gulf of Alaska: implications for ecosystem-based fishery management	Publication
Inshore Catch Data for Capelin (Mallotus villosus) in the Gulf of Alaska, 1996-2017	Data
Extreme mortality and reproductive failure of common murres resulting from the northeast Pacific marine heatwave of 2014-2016	Publication
Data from Common Murre Die-off Surveys and Necropsies Following the North Pacific Marine Heatwave, 2015-2016	Data
Pelagic Forage Fish Distribution Abundance and Body Condition	Data
Marine ecology near Tufted Puffin colonies across the Aleutian Archipelago and Alaska Peninsula, 2012-2014	Data
Biogeochemical Subsidies from Glacier Runoff into Alaska Coastal Marine Food Webs, Gulf of Alaska, 2012-2013	Data
User's Guide to the North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database 2.0	Publication
North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database (NPPSD)	Data
Seabirds, Forage Fish, and Marine Ecology	Project Website

Contacts

Arimitsu, Mayumi L., 907-364-1593
Piatt, John F., 360.774.0516

Status: onGoing
Start Year: 2002
End Year: 2024

Project Sites

Collaborators

FWS - Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge
FWS - Alaska Region

USGS Mission Area and Program

Ecosystems → Fisheries Program
Ecosystems → Wildlife Program

Major Initiatives

FWS - Quick Response Program
FWS - Science Support Program
LCC - Aleutian and Bering Sea Islands Landscape Conservation Cooperative
USGS - Marine and Freshwater Ecology