December 18, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
NOAA Fisheries has released the 2023 Ecosystem Status Reports for the eastern Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and Gulf of Alaska. These synthesis reports provide current conditions and trends over time for key oceanographic, biological, and ecological indicators in three Alaska marine ecosystems.
These foundational data and information reports support federal commercial fish and crab fisheries management. Each year, scientists and fishery managers at NOAA, other U.S. federal and state agencies, academic institutions, tribes, and nonprofits, contribute to the reports.
For close to three decades, fishery managers have relied on these reports to better understand how commercial fish and crab populations are being affected by changes in the marine environment.
“Warming at rates four times faster than the rest of the ocean, Alaska’s Arctic ecosystems are a bellwether for climate change. Now more than ever having ecosystem and climate-related data and information is essential to support adaptive resource management and resilient commercial, recreational and subsistence fisheries, and rural and coastal communities,” said Robert Foy, director, Alaska Fisheries Science Center.
This year, data from these reports provided broad, contextual ecosystem information for 45 stock assessments and specifically informed 16 stock-level risk assessments.
2023 Highlights Across Alaska
Looking across the three ecosystems this year, there are several notable indicators amidst continued variability in many marine conditions.
- Ocean temperatures in both the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea have cooled relative to the recent marine heatwave conditions while the Aleutians remained warmer than average
- Pacific ocean perch continue to be dominant groundfish in the Aleutian Islands, replacing pollock and Atka mackerel in the ecosystem while the Gulf of Alaska ecosystem is now characterized by increased populations of Pacific ocean perch and sablefish and reduced populations of Pacific cod, Pacific halibut, and arrowtooth flounder
- There were some positive signs for Pacific cod recruitment in the Gulf of Alaska even though adult population abundance remains low
- Notable indicators of ecosystem health and potential threats to wildlife and human health: Harmful algal blooms are becoming more prevalent in the northern Bering Sea and paralytic shellfish toxins in sampled blue mussels from four Aleutian Islands communities were 47 times above the regulatory limit