Tag: beringsea

NOAA: Warming Waters May Affect Algae Blooms, Food Web
Fishermen's News Online

NOAA: Warming Waters May Affect Algae Blooms, Food Web

New research by NOAA Fisheries suggests that the warming of Bering Sea shelf is affecting the timing of algae blooms and the food web dependent upon them. This is particularly true of the unprecedented and widespread warming in during 2018-2019, according to the study, which was released Dec. 22. “This study fills gaps by including data from the recent warming period 2018–2019 and more spatial information on how blooms vary across the region,” Jens Nielsen, a biological oceanographer with NOAA’s Ecosystems and Fisheries-Oceanography Coordinated Investigations Program, said. “Our work lays the foundation for learning more about the link between phytoplankton bloom types and how that influences zooplankton that are food for commercially important fish and benthic crabs,” Nielsen...
Bering Sea Crabbers Partner With Alaska, Feds to Study Red King Crab
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Bering Sea Crabbers Partner With Alaska, Feds to Study Red King Crab

Harvesters in the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery are partnering with federal and state agencies to collect critical winter data in a month-long project that was slated to start in March to help inform management decisions. The research goal is to collect data sought by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to help the council decide what actions might improve those stocks to a level to allow for the multi-million-dollar fishery to resume. The study’s lead, Mike Litzow of NOAA Fisheries’ Alaska Fisheries Science Center, said the collaborative effort offered an exciting chance to study these crab stocks in winter. “That’s when people really interact with the stock — the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery and many other fisheries that potentially interact with crab take place in...
Zooplankton Research Sheds Light on Future Northern Bering Sea Ecosystem
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Zooplankton Research Sheds Light on Future Northern Bering Sea Ecosystem

New NOAA Fisheries research exploring the impact of unprecedented losses of sea ice on the northern Bering Sea ecosystem has identified a decline in high-fat copepods that are an important food source for many predators, and expansion of smaller zooplankton with warming waters. From fish to whales, nearly every predator in the sea eats zooplankton or eats something that does, notes the study led by research oceanographer David G. Kimmel, with NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. The study concludes that this altered prey field may have contributed to ecosystem-wide impacts on fish, seabirds and marine mammals. The shift to smaller, more nearshore zooplankton may have contributed to dramatic impacts on commercially harvested fish, protected seabirds and marine mammals in r...
Alaska Seeks Federal Disaster Declaration for Crab Fisheries
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Alaska Seeks Federal Disaster Declaration for Crab Fisheries

Alaska officials are seeking a federal fisheries disaster declaration for the 2022-23 Bristol Bay red king crab and Bering Sea snow crab fisheries. Gov. Mike Dunleavy said on Tuesday, Oct. 25 that he also has asked Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to expedite a disaster determine for the 2021-22 red king crab fishery. Dunleavy’s plea to the Commerce Department said information available to him indicated that both crab stock declines were a result of natural causes linked to warming ocean temperatures. The fisheries industry and affected communities in Alaska will need economic relief, he said. Alaska’s lone member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, has also urged aid for the crab industry, in a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and House Appr...