Sorting Age 0 pollock and Pacific cod. Photo courtesy of Sandra Parker-Stetter

The Ecosystem Monitoring and Assessment Program’s overall goal is to improve and reduce uncertainty in stock assessment models of commercially important fish species through the collection of observations of fish and oceanography.  Observations for fish include abundance, size, distribution, diet and energetic status. Oceanographic observations include conductivity-temperature at depth, nutrient levels, and estimates of the composition and biomass of phytoplankton and zooplankton (includes jellyfish) species. These fish and oceanographic observations are used to connect climate change and variability in large marine ecosystems to early marine survival of commercially important fish species in the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, and Arctic.

The program conducts studies in a variety of fishery habitats throughout Alaska, all focused on providing fish and oceanographic ecosystem indicators to address the Program's overall goal.  For example, these studies highlight the connection between chum salmon populations and bycatch in the Bering Sea groundfish fisheries. There is extensive cooperation and collaboration within the program and among AFSC programs, other Federal science centers, Alaska State agencies, Universities of Alaska and Washington, non-profit agencies (i.e., the Bering Sea Fisherman’s Association, the Alaska Sustainable Salmon Fund, and the Arctic Yukon Kuskokwim Sustainable Salmon Fund), and international commissions (North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission, Pacific Salmon Commission, Yukon River Panel, and PICES).  Our activities include:

• Southeastern Bering Sea ecosystem assessment
• Northeastern Bering Sea ecosystem assessment
• Gulf of Alaska ecosystem assessment
• Southeast Alaska coastal monitoring (SECM)
• Chukchi Sea ecosystem assessment
• Anadromous Fish

Eastern Bering Sea sample stations

A highlight of the Ecosystem Monitoring and Assessment Program is our extensive coverage of the Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) by our surveys, including the southeast Alaska inside waters (SECM), the eastern Bering Sea (Figure 1) and the coastal waters of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). Fish and oceanographic data collected by AFSC scientists within these LMEs have been applied to link climate variability to walleye pollock recruitment, western Alaska salmon early marine ecology, and to forecasting pink salmon returns in Southeast Alaska. These important fish and oceanographic data are also used by stock assessment scientists to reduce uncertainty in forecast models for commercially important groundfish in the Bering Sea, by connnecting ecosystem processes to fitness of groundfish, thereby providing crucial ecosystem indicators that help explain why recruitment was good or poor for a given year.

Contact:
Ed Farley
Auke Bay Laboratories
Alaska Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries

Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute
17109 Pt Lena Loop Rd
Juneau AK 99801
(907) 789-6085 Ed.Farley@noaa.gov

Featured Research, Publications, Posters, Reports, and Activities

• Climate impacts on eastern Bering Sea food webs: A synthesis of new data and an assessment of the Oscillating Control Hypothesis.
  Hunt, G.L., K.O. Coyle, L. Eisner, E.V. Farley, R. Heintz, F. Mueter, J.M. Napp, J.E. Overland, P.H. Ressler, S. Salo, and P.J. Stabeno. Climate impacts on eastern Bering Sea food webs: A synthesis of new data and an assessment of the Oscillating Control Hypothesis. In press. ICES Journal of Marine Science.
  


• Spatial distribution, energetic status and food habits of eastern Bering Sea age-0 walleye pollock.
  Moss, J.H., E.V. Farley, A.M. Feldman, and J. Ianelli. Spatial distribution, energetic status and food habits of eastern Bering Sea age-0 walleye pollock. 2009. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 138:497-5 05.
  


• Growth rate potential of juvenile sockeye salmon in warmer and cooler years on the eastern Bering Sea shelf.
  Farley, E.V., Jr., M. Trudel. Growth rate potential of juvenile sockeye salmon in warmer and cooler years on the eastern Bering Sea shelf. 2009. Journal of Marine Biology 2009:640215.
  


• A major ecosystem shift in the northern Bering Sea.
  Grebmeier, J.M., J.E. Overland, S.E. Moore, E.V. Farley, Jr., E.C. Carmack, L.W. Cooper, K.E. Frey, J.H. Helle, F.A. McLaughlin, S.L. McNutt. A major ecosystem shift in the northern Bering Sea. 2006. Science 311:1461 – 1464.
  


• The Barents and Chukchi seas: Comparison of two Arctic shelf ecosystems.
  HUNT, G. L., A. L. BLANCHARD, P. BOVENG, P. DALPADADO, K. F. DRINKWATER, L. EISNER, R. R. HOPCROFT, K. M. KOVACS, B. L. NORCROSS, P. RENAUD, M. REIGSTAD, M. RENNER, H. R. SKJOLDAL, A. WHITEHOUSE, and R. A. WOODGATE. 2013. The Barents and Chukchi seas: Comparison of two Arctic shelf ecosystems. J. Mar. Sys. 109-110:43-68.  
   
• Tracking aquatic animals with radio telemetry
  EILER, J. H. 2012. Tracking aquatic animals with radio telemetry, p. 163-204. In N. S. Adams, J. W. Beeman, and J. H. Eiler (editors), Telemetry Techniques: a User Guide for Fisheries Research. Am. Fish. Soc., Bethesda, MD. 
   
• Energy Allocation in Juvenile Salmon: Adaptive Strategies for Overwinter Survival
  By:  JIM MURPHY, KATIE HOWARD, KEITH COX, JAMAL MOSS, EMILY FERGUSSON, ED FARLEY
  Conference:  Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2013
  (2013 poster, .pdf, 1.69 MB)   Online.
   
• Using Acoustic Telemetry to Monitor Pacific Herring During Spring Spawning
  By:  MARY ANNE BISHOP, MEGAN McKINZIE, JOHN EILER, BRAD REYNOLDS, SEAN P. POWERS
  Conference:  Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2013
  (2013 poster, .pdf, 1.32 MB)   Online.
   

See the publications and posters databases for additional listings.