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.

Movements and Population Structure of Humpback Whales in the North Pacific

Abstract: Despite the extensive use of photographic identification methods to investigate humpback whales in the North Pacific, few quantitative analyses have been conducted. We report on a comprehensive analysis of interchange in the North Pacific among three wintering regions (Mexico, Hawaii, and Japan) each with two to three subareas, and feeding areas that extended from southern California to the Aleutian Islands. Of the 6,413 identification photographs of humpback whales obtained by 16 independent research groups between 1990 and 1993 and examined for this study, 3,650 photographs were determined to be of suitable quality. A total of 1,241 matches was found by two independent matching teams, identifying 2,712 unique whales in the sample (seen one to five times). Site fidelity was greatest at feeding areas where there was a high rate of resightings in the same area in different years and a low rate of interchange among different areas. Migrations between winter regions and feeding areas did not follow a simple pattern, although highest match rates were found for whales that moved between Hawaii and southeastern Alaska, and between mainland and Baja Mexico and California. Interchange among subareas of the three primary wintering regions was extensive for Hawaii, variable (depending on subareas) for Mexico, and low for Japan and reflected the relative distances among subareas. Interchange among these primary wintering regions was rare. This study provides the first quantitative assessment of the migratory structure of humpback whales in the entire North Pacific basin.

State of the Climate in 2009

Abstract: This report describes observations of precipitation, temperature, and other climatology metrics from different global regions.

Seabird interactions with dolphins and tuna in the eastern tropical pacific

Abstract: Bird flocks associated with dolphins in the eastern tropical Pacific are described from observations obtained during eight cruises that took place from January to March of 1976, 1977, 1979, and 1980. In the northern tropical waters between latitudes 5"N and 30"N, 43% to 53% of bird flocks co-occurred with dolphins. In equatorial and southern subtropical waters between latitudes SON to 12"s and in the central Pacific less than 8% of the flocks were associated with dolphins. In northern tropical waters about 70% of dolphin schools associated with flocks were composed of spotted or spotted plus spinner dolphins; conversely, 59% of spotted dolphin and 96% of spotted plus spinner dolphin schools co-occurred with bird flocks. Most large schools of these dolphins were associated with birds, and thenumber and diversity of bird species increased with dolphin school size. The average species composition of birds in dolphin-associated flocks of northern tropical waters was: boobies 4 I.%, Wedge-tailed Shearwaters (Puffinus pacificus) 3 1.4%, jaegers 12.8%, Sooty Terns (Sterna firscata) 6%, frigatebirds 3.6%, and others 4.5%. Positive statistical associations were found among these bird species, which are explained by common attraction to food made available by feeding yellowfin tuna. In the southern latitudes and in the central Pacific, flocks were dominated by Sooty Terns, and few flocks were associated with dolphins. These flocks appeared to be associated with skipjack rather than yellowfin tuna.

A review of temperature and oxygen tolerance studies of tunas pertinent to fisheries oceanography, movement models and stock assessments

Abstract: Detailed data on the physiological abilities and habitat requirements of some tuna species have now been collected. Laboratory and field studies show tunas are not strictly prisoners of their own thermoconserving mechanisms, but have rapid and extensive control over the efficacy of their vascular countercurrent heat exchangers. Skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) are, therefore, probably not forced out of formerly suitable habitats as they grow because of the potential for overheating, as formerly thought. Because of their thermoregulatory abilities, bigeye tuna (Thunnus obe-sus) apparently can exploit food resources well below the thermocline by minimizing rates of heat loss when in cold water, and then maximizing rates of heat gain from the environment during brief upward excursions into the warmer mixed layer. Widely cited estimates of limiting oxygen levels, based on estimated metabolic rates at minimum hydrostatic equilibrium swimming speeds, are not accurate because tunas have exceptionally high oxygen demands even at slow speeds. High metabolic rates, even at slow swimming speeds, most likely result from the high osmoregulatory costs engendered by tunas' large thin gills and/or their other adaptations for achieving exceptionally high maximum metabolic rates. Recent laboratory research and modelling efforts suggest the capacity of tunas' cardiorespiratory systems to deliver oxygen at extraordinarily high rates was evolved to allow rapid recovery from strenuous exercise, rapid digestion, and high rates of gonadal and somatic growth, not high sustained cruising speeds. The rate at which reduced ambient oxygen levels prolong the time required for tunas to recover from strenuous exercise appears to be a good index of habitat suitability, with respect to oxy-een.

Encouraging outlook for recovery of a once severely exploited marine megaherbivore

Abstract: Aim To critically review the status of the green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) using the best available scientific studies as there is a prevailing view that this species is globally endangered and its marine ecosystem functions compromised. Location Ogasawara (Japan), Hawaii (USA), Great Barrier Reef (Australia), Florida (USA), Tortuguero (Costa Rica). Methods We compiled seasonal nesting activity data from all reliable continuous long-term studies (> 25 years), which comprised data series for six of the world's major green turtle rookeries. We estimated the underlying time-specific trend in these six rookery-specific nester or nest abundance series using a generalized smoothing spline regression approach. Results Estimated rates of nesting population increase ranged from c. 4-14% per annum over the past two to three decades. These rates varied considerably among the rookeries, reflecting the level of historical exploitation. Similar increases in nesting population were also evident for many other green turtle stocks that have been monitored for shorter durations than the long-term studies presented here. Main conclusions We show that six of the major green turtle nesting populations in the world have been increasing over the past two to three decades following protection from human hazards such as exploitation of eggs and turtles. This population recovery or rebound capacity is encouraging and suggests that the green turtle is not on the brink of global extinction even though some stocks have been seriously depleted and are still below historical abundance levels. This demonstrates that relatively simple conservation strategies can have a profound effect on the recovery of once-depleted green turtle stocks and presumably the restoration of their ecological function as major marine consumers.