Detecting Long-term Changes in Forage Fish Populations in Prince William Sound, Alaska
We are focused on detecting climate effects on pelagic environments and especially forage fish.Abstract
In the aftermath of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS) it was difficult to distinguish between the impacts of the spill and natural variability in affected animal populations in Prince William Sound (PWS). Ten years after the spill it became widely recognized that there had been a major climatic regime shift (from colder to warmer than average) that altered the marine ecosystem prior to the spill, including marine birds, marine mammals, groundfish, and the shared forage species they all consumed. Since that time, the EVOS Trustee Council has been funding ecosystem monitoring studies such as Gulf Watch Alaska (GWA) to assess how damaged ecosystems are recovering from the EVOS, and trying to simultaneously track ecosystem responses to changes in the marine environment. As we begin to close the second decade of the 2000s, we are experiencing anomalous ocean warming events driven by changing atmospheric conditions at both inter-decadal (i.e. Pacific Decadal Oscillation) and shorter (e.g. El Niño Southern Oscillation) time scales. In our Forage Fish project for GWA, we are particularly focused on detecting climate effects on pelagic environments and especially forage fish.
Products
| Title | Type |
|---|---|
| Pacific Sand Lance Energy Density, Length, and Age, Prince William Sound, Alaska, 2012-2016 | Data |
Contacts
Arimitsu, Mayumi L., 907-364-1593Piatt, John F., 360.774.0516
Status: onGoing
Start Year: 2012
End Year: 2024