Tag: sablefish

Juvenile Salmon Face Competition for Food in Northwest Waters
Fishermen's News Online, News

Juvenile Salmon Face Competition for Food in Northwest Waters

Juvenile sablefish in increasing numbers off the coastal waters from Central Oregon north to northern Washington are competing with juvenile salmon for food, according to NOAA Fisheries research recently published in the journal Marine and Coastal Fisheries. The report, released Jan. 7, shows the influence of warming ocean temperatures off the West Coast. It matches reports of fishing boats catching smaller sablefish closer to shore. Researchers said their findings mean that salmon may face new competition from sablefish at a critical time in their life cycle, which is already threatened by climate change. Adult sablefish live for many years in deep offshore waters along the ocean floor.  Juvenile sablefish, like young salmon, first feed and grow along the highest layers of th...
NOAA: Climate Change Will Likely Send West Coast Fish Farther Offshore
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NOAA: Climate Change Will Likely Send West Coast Fish Farther Offshore

Scientists at NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center say their research shows that shifting ocean conditions associated with climate change will likely send high-value sablefish into deeper waters off the West Coast. This means vessels may have to travel farther and fish deeper in order to keep catching fish. The new report, which provides a glimpse of what West Coast fisheries will look like with climate change, notes that fishing crews must always balance the value of different commercial species against the distances involved in catching them, but that climate change could alter that equation in new ways. Researchers studied how four species of West Coast groundfish commonly caught together may respond to climate change. They include sablefish, Dover sole, shortspine tho...