AFSC Internships, 2007 Intern Experiences - Erin Seale
Erin Seale, a California State University, Fullerton
graduate, who majored in Biological Sciences with emphasis in Marine Ecology, provides a brief description of her 2007 summer internship. Erin worked with Dr. Tom Hurst, a research fishery biologist with the Fisheries Behavioral Ecology Program (RACE Division), on Pacific cod vertical behaviors in response to light, temperature and body size.
I examined how light level influences the distribution of Pacific cod larvae in vertical columns. Fish behaviors were examined at 4°C and 8°C and compared over time to test for thermal effects and ontogenetic shifts.
Pacific cod is a commercially important fishery species that spawns throughout the Gulf of Alaska and relies on ocean currents to deliver progeny to suitable nursery grounds. With existing oceanographic models of ocean currents in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska, incorporating data on behavior of Pacific cod larvae can improve predictions of how dispersal and recruitment events in a changing environment might take place to preserve this fishery for years to come.
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