National Marine Fisheries Service

About: National Marine Fisheries Service is a government organization based out in Silver Spring, Maryland, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Fisheries management. The organization has 3949 authors who have published 7053 publications receiving 305073 citations. The organization is also known as: NOAA Fisheries & NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service.

The Bering Sea—A dynamic food web perspective

Abstract: The Bering Sea is a high-latitude, semi-enclosed sea that supports extensive fish, seabird, marine mammal, and invertebrate populations and some of the world's most productive fisheries. The region consists of several distinct biomes that have undergone wide-scale population variation, in part due to fisheries, but also in part due to the effects of interannual and decadal-scale climatic variation. While recent decades of ocean observation have highlighted possible links between climate and species fluctuations, mechanisms linking climate and population fluctuations are only beginning to be understood. Here, we examine the food webs of Bering Sea ecosystems with particular reference to some key shifts in widely distributed, abundant fish populations and their links with climate variation. Both climate variability and fisheries have substantially altered the Bering Sea ecosystem in the past, but their relative importance in shaping the current ecosystem state remains uncertain.

Zooplankton abundance trends on Georges Bank, 1977–2004

Abstract: Interannual trends in Georges Bank zooplankton abundance are described and related to variations in environmental variables for the period 1977–2004. Total zooplankton counts increased to above average levels in 1989 and stayed over or close to average through 2004. This analysis identified a group of taxa including Centropages typicus, Metridia lucens, and Temora longicornis that had similar interannual patterns of abundance. All these taxa increased sharply in the early 1990s and remained high through 2001. Some taxa declined sharply in 2002, others have continued elevated through 2004. Total zooplankton counts in the past two years were also boosted by a substantial increase in the abundance of the copepod Calanus finmarchicus. Evidence is presented that these changes may be related to variations in Scotian Shelf inflow, which freshened water on the Northeast US continental shelf, perhaps increasing both primary production and the influx of zooplankton into the region. There was a positive correlation between the biomass of pelagic predators and the abundance of several zooplankton taxa, suggesting that bottom-up processes and advective supply are the key factors that regulate the Georges Bank foodweb.