Saving Seafood

Study tracks 34 years of Bering Sea fish populations

April 24, 2017 — A newly released study from the Alaska Fisheries Science Center tracks distribution shifts of groundfish in the Eastern Bering Sea from 1982 to 2015.

Researchers say the visualizations provided by this 331-page document will help them to understand the life histories of 22 groundfish and skate species over time and space and provide clues to how climate change may potentially impact those species at different life stages.

During the standardized bottom trawl surveys of the Eastern Bering Sea shelf area between 20 and 200 meters from May to August in those years, researchers collected species composition and bottom temperature for all tows, as well as measurements from all fish encountered. That data provides a unique look at the spatial and environmental preferences of many species, as well as ontogenetic shifts in spatial distribution and environmental preferences over 34 years, they said.

Steve Barbeaux, the fisheries biologist who served as lead author of the study, said climate variability has increased in the Bering Sea in recent years and AFSC will use this information to study how ecosystems respond to change.

Read the full story at The Cordova Times

Mixing new technology and people power for an accurate count of endangered Steller sea lions

October 4, 2016 — Fall at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center means researchers are sifting through all the data they collected over the summer months in the field. For the Steller sea lion team that means reviewing hundreds of thousands of photos.

Every summer AFSC’s Marine Mammal Lab scientists conduct Steller sea lion surveys along the Aleutian Island chain, an area of concern for the endangered Steller sea lion. Sea lions in the central and western Aleutian Islands have continued to decline.

During the surveys, scientists take expansive photographs from the air and ground, capturing rugged coastlines filled with thousands of sea lions. They also look for permanently marked animals to learn how certain individuals are faring over the course of their lives.

Advanced technology like hexacopter drones offer easier access to hard to reach locations where Steller sea lions live. Sophisticated maps and data visualizations clearly showcase detailed information and effectively demonstrate patterns and trends, especially to the general public. All of this leads to better insights and more accurate assessments about the health of the endangered population.

Read the full story at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center

Surveys off Alaska lead to new types of soft-bodied fish

July 13, 2016 — ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Federal biologist Jay Orr never knows what’s going to come up in nets lowered to the ocean floor off Alaska’s remote Aleutian Islands, which separate the Bering Sea from the rest of the Pacific Ocean. Sometimes it’s stuff he has to name.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration biologist is part of a group that uses trawl nets to survey commercially important fish species such as cod in waters off Alaska. Sometimes those nets come up with things no one has seen before.

With co-authors, Orr has discovered 14 kinds of new snailfish, a creature that can be found in tide pools but also in the deepest parts of the ocean. A dozen more new snailfish are waiting to be named. Additional species are likely to be found as scientists expand their time investigating areas such as the Bering Sea Slope, in water 800 to 5,200 feet deep, or the 25,663-foot deep Aleutian Trench.

“I suspect we are just scraping the top of the distributions of some of these deep-water groups,” Orr said from his office in Seattle.

Orr and his colleagues measure the abundance of rockfish, flatfish and other “bottom fish” for the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, the research arm of the NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service. The center studies marine resources off Alaska and parts of the West Coast.

Five boats with six researchers each surveyed Alaska waters in late June. The teams trawl on the Bering Shelf every summer and in either Aleutian waters or the Gulf of Alaska every other year.

Their findings on fish abundance are fed into models for managing fish populations.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Miami Herald

Mischievous Snailfish and Other Mysteries of the Deep

June 15, 2016 — The following was released by NOAA:

Right now, scientists from the Alaska Fisheries Science Center are at sea collecting information crucial to keeping Alaska fisheries sustainable. The data they collect during yearly stock assessment surveys is used to set quotas for the familiar species that support some of world’s largest fisheries.

But sometimes they find something no one has seen before.

Mischievous, hardheaded, arbiter, dusty, peach, tomato, whiskered, combed, goldeneye, comet and comic snailfishes: none of these species were known to science 10 years ago. Some were named only last year. All were discovered by Alaska Fisheries Science Center biologist Jay Orr during stock assessment surveys in the Aleutian Islands.

Orr has discovered new skate, sculpin, sole and other species, but his favorites are the snailfishes. Alone or with coauthors including Morgan Busby (AFSC) and Katherine Maslenikov (University of Washington) he has discovered and named 12 new species of snailfishes. “My interest was sparked in 1997 when I collected one specimen that represented a new genus, and several that I thought were a known species out of their range”, Orr says. “When I examined one of these closely, I found it was a brand new species. And so was the second, and the third, and finally, a fourth newly discovered species. That’s what started me down this road.”

Some 350 snailfish species inhabit marine environments from the Arctic to Antarctic, from tide pools to deep sea – deeper than any other known vertebrate: one snailfish species was recently found swimming nearly 5 miles below the ocean surface. More than 50 species have been identified in the North Pacific; many more exist that are undescribed, and more continue to be discovered. In fact, Orr has collected twelve more unknown species that are now just waiting to be described.

A Slippery Fish

A snailfish looks a bit like an overweight tadpole. Naked of scales, its body seems gelatinous. Most species have a sucking disc in place of pelvic fins, and use it to attach themselves to rocks or other undersea surfaces. Most snailfish stay close to the bottom, rather than swimming in the water column.

Some of these characteristics partly explain why there are still so many unnamed snailfish. “They are challenging for taxonomists,” Orr says. “Because they don’t have scales, they get damaged easily. In the past, biologists might just call all snailfish ‘snailfish,’ instead of attempting to identify them.”

Taking advantage of a small bag added to the footrope of the trawl used to collect samples of other fish and invertebrates for species assessment, Orr’s group was able to collect undamaged snailfish, a true rarity. “The first time it was deployed it came up full of snailfish in perfect condition,” says Orr. “We aren’t sure why it works, but suspect it creates a vortex that gently sweeps up snailfish.”

Location, Location

Orr collects snailfish during fish and invertebrate species assessment cruises in the Aleutian Islands, as well as other regions in Alaska. Many of the new species were found in the Central Aleutians, and had not been identified during routine surveys of the entire Aleutian chain since 1980s.

The central Aleutians are a “biological hot spot” because of high productivity and prey availability. Snailfish may be concentrated in this high biodiversity area because of these favorable conditions. Also, they live and lay their eggs on the bottom, which may tend to keep them in this desirable real estate.

What’s in a Name?

“I name some of them according to what strikes me about the fish, its color or morphology,” says Orr. “I’ve also used descriptive words from the Aleut language, in honor of the Aleut people. And some species are named after individual people.”

Prognatholiparis ptychomandibularis, for example, means “protruding jaw snailfish, folded jaw,” and is commonly known as the wrinkle-jaw snailfish.

The goldeneye snailfish Allocareproctus unangas was named in honor of the Unangas, the Aleut people of Atka Island, near which the species was discovered.

The species name for Careproctus lerikimae, the dusty snailfish, is an amalgam of the first names–Libby, Erika, and Kim–of three scientists who helped collect the first specimens.

One hardheaded snailfish (Lopholiparis flerxi) was affectionately named after a colleague known for his keen eye for unusual specimens – and for his strong opinions.

Two most recently discovered species were named after retired leaders at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center who supported work in fisheries ecosystem management and biodiversity. “And they are just great guys,” says Orr. Orr has not named any species after himself (that’s just not done), but other scientists did: a whole new genus of fossil fishes is named Orrichthys, in honor of Orr’s contributions to the field.

More Information

Orr, J. W., and M. S. Busby. 2001.  Prognatholiparis ptychomandibularis, a new genus and species of the fish family Liparidae (Teleostei: Scorpaeniformes) from the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 114(1):51-57.

Orr, J. W. 2004. Lopholiparis flerxi, a new genus and species of snailfish (Scorpaeniformes: Liparidae) from the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. Copeia 2004(3):551-555.

Orr, J. W., and M. S. Busby. 2006. Revision of the snailfish genus Allocareproctus Pitruk and Federov (Teleostei: Liparidae), with the description of four new species from the Aleutian Islands. Zootaxa 1173:1-37.

Orr, J. W., and K. P. Maslenikov. 2007. Two new variegated snailfishes of the genus Careproctus (Teleostei: Scorpaeniformes: Liparidae) from the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. Copeia 2007(3):699-710.

Baldwin, Z. H., and J. W. Orr. 2010. A new species of the snailfish genus Paraliparis (Scorpaeniformes: Liparidae) from the eastern Bering Sea. Copeia 2010(4):640-643.

Orr, J. W. 2012. Two new species of Careproctus (Scorpaeniformes: Liparidae) from the eastern North Pacific. Copeia 2012(2):257-265.

Orr, J. W., Y. Kai, and T. Nakabo. 2015. Snailfishes of the Careproctus rastrinus complex (Liparidae): Recognition of seven species in the North Pacific Ocean and its marginal seas, with the description of a new species from the Beaufort Sea. Zootaxa 4018:301–348.

Orr, J. W. In press. Two new species of Careproctus (Liparidae) from the Aleutian Islands. Copeia, 20 ms pp.

Gardner, J. R., J. W. Orr, D. E. Stevenson, I. Spies, and D. A. Somerton. In press. Reproductive parasitism between distant phyla: molecular identification of snailfish (Liparidae) egg masses in the gill cavities of king crabs (Lithodidae). Copeia, 30 ms pp.

 

Read the full story at NOAA

Northeast Fisheries Science Center director retiring

May 5, 2016 — The head of NOAA Fisheries’ Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole has announced his retirement in September from federal service after just under four years as head of the center.

Bill Karp came to Cape Cod after serving many years in the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, and has 30 years of fisheries research experience.

The science centers conduct most of the fisheries research regulators then use to set policies and quotas, and is often in the middle of sharp disagreements between researchers and the commercial fishing industry.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

NEFSC Science and Research Director Dr. William Karp to Retire in September

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — May 3, 2016 — Dr. William Karp, the Science and Research Director of NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, announced today in an email that he will be stepping down from the position at the end of September. Dr. Karp, who was appointed to the Director position in 2012, has over 30 years of fisheries research experience, working at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center before coming to the NEFSC.

The text of Dr. Karp’s email is reproduced below.

Dear Colleagues and Friends:

After a 30-year career with NOAA Fisheries, I have decided to retire from Federal service on September 30th, 2016.

When I started work at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in 1986, I was excited by the opportunity to work as a scientist in support of our mission while, at the same time, serving the public.  My understanding of the breadth and depth of our mission has increased greatly during my 30 years of service, and my commitment to science-based management of living marine resources has remained strong.  The work I have done during these 30 years has always been challenging and rewarding, and I have been honored to work with many skilled scientists and administrators.  At the start of my career with NOAA, I joined the midwater assessment team at the Alaska Center, working on acoustic technologies and survey assessment of pollock in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea.  During my years at AFSC, I changed jobs, and direction, several times, working with different staff at the Center and, increasingly, with partners in academia, the fishing industry, and the international community.  My time as Deputy Science and Research Director at AFSC was especially rewarding as I came to understand the incredible depth and breadth of the Center’s work, and the remarkable impact this has had on the science, management, and conservation of living marine resources throughout Alaska.  Four years ago, I moved to Cape Cod to take on a new assignment as Director of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center.  I was honored to be selected for the position and, as at the Alaska Center, have greatly enjoyed the opportunity to work with a highly dedicated and accomplished staff.  The science and management challenges in New England and the Mid Atlantic differ markedly from those in Alaska, and, while this job has been very demanding, I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with staff, stakeholders, and academic and management partners to improve our science and better inform the management process.

My career with NOAA has been exciting, challenging, rewarding, and fulfilling.  It has been my privilege and my pleasure to work with all of you.

Bill

Warmer Bering Sea will Reduce Future Pollock Harvests but Raise Prices

April 19, 2016 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Economic losses from a diminished catch will be partially offset by rising prices for the fish species that supports the nation’s single biggest seafood harvest, according to an analysis by researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center.

The report, by economist Chang Seung and biologist Jim Ianelli and published in the journal Natural Resource Modeling, estimates that the total Alaska pollock harvest in 2050 will be 22.2 percent smaller than it was in 2004. But the dollar value of the harvest – total revenue from sales of raw pollock – will decline by only 9 percent, according to the report’s projections.

Pollock harvests in waters off Alaska generally range between 1 million and 1.4 million metric tons a year, with nearly all of that pulled out of the eastern Bering Sea. The 2012 catch of pollock from waters off Alaska totaled 1.31 million metric tons and brought in nearly $500 million to the harvesting fishermen, according to the report. The total value of the fishery is much greater than that when multiplier effects are considered; it mounts to billions of dollars as the economic activity expands along each step from the fishing vessel to consumers’ meals.

Future consumers will be willing to pay more for pollock  for a variety of reasons, Seung said.

“There is a decrease in supply of pollock. That will increase the price a little bit,” he said.

In addition, the analysis assumes growth in the global population and economy, meaning expanded markets of fish-eaters and a positive shift in the demand curve, he said.

The analysis considers a range of scenarios that are averaged over the long term.

In the short term, Alaska pollock stocks and harvests fluctuate year to year. The gradual warming that is happening and is expected to continue will have effects in coming decades.

Effects of warmer waters on pollock are complicated, according to analysis by the Alaska Fisheries Science Center. Higher summer temperatures tend to spur growth of more young fish, but those conditions leave much less high-oil prey for them to eat. Though they are more abundant than their cold-summer counterparts, the warm-summer young pollock are low on the fat reserves they need to survive the winter. Since juvenile pollock are a major source of food for a variety of fish and marine mammals, winter survival is critical to stock sizes. Pollock populations can be plentiful if warm and cold years alternate, according to NOAA analysis, but there is concern about several sequential warm years causing big stock declines.

Do the future supply and demand changes mean the lowly pollock might become a more premium whitefish? Could pollock be the new cod?

Don’t count on it, advises Gunnar Knapp, a University of Alaska Anchorage economist with fisheries expertise.

“I don’t see it happening any time soon,” said Knapp, director of UAA’s Institute of Social and Economic Research.

Though groundfish is not his specialty, he said, his “gut instinct” is that pollock faces too many obstacles to become a prized fish like halibut, now considered a delicacy, or even cod, which has niche appeal as food with centuries-old traditions.

Those include competition from other whitefish, like farmed catfish and tilapia, along with the emerging farmed species from Vietnam, Pangasius hypophthalmus, which goes by the newly coined name “swai,” Knapp said. Swai was not even eaten in the United States until about 10 years ago but it is now a strong contender in the whitefish market, he said.

Future marketing of pollock could make a pitch for the product as wild and sustainably managed, Knapp added. Pollock also feeds spinoff markets for roe – generally a Japanese market subject to the changing value of the yen – and the paste known as surimi, making pollock economics a bit more complex than those applicable to other fish, he said.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Fisheries scientists plan for a changing Bering Sea

February 21, 2016 — The North Pacific Fishery Management Council heard a draft plan for addressing climate change in the eastern Bering Sea earlier this month.

The plan was put together by scientists at the Seattle-based Alaska Fisheries Science Center, which is part of the National Marine Fisheries Service. Mike Sigler, program leader for the habitat and ecological processes research program at the science center, said the plan pulls together work that scientists there are already doing, and research they’d like to undertake.

“We have a clear understanding of species like walleye pollock, northern rock sole, red king crab, what will happen to them, and we can make quantitative forecasts of where they’re going. They’re not completely certain, but we have some good ideas of ecological processes,” Sigler said. “But then, we don’t have such good understanding for other species, like yellowfin sole, and we’re making a qualitative assessment of their vulnerability to climate.”

Eventually, the group wants to provide fisheries managers, like the North Pacific council, with a better look at what might be coming in 10 years — or even further down the road. One of the first parts of the plan is just putting together that qualitative assessment for more than a dozen species, which he expects to happen this year.

Read the full story from Alaska Dispatch News

 

ALASKA: Scientists draft fish management plan as Bering Sea changes

February 17, 2016 — The North Pacific Fishery Management Council heard a draft plan for addressing climate change in the eastern Bering Sea earlier this month.

The plan was put together by scientists at the Seattle-based Alaska Fisheries Science Center, which is part of the National Marine Fisheries Service. Mike Sigler, program leader for the habitat and ecological processes research program at the science center, said the plan pulls together work scientists there are already doing, and research they’d like to undertake.

“We have a clear understanding of species like walleye Pollock, northern rock sole, red king crab, what will happen to them, and we can make quantitative forecasts of where they’re going. They’re not completely certain, but we have some good ideas of ecological processes,” Sigler said. “But then, we don’t have such good understanding for other species, like yellowfin sole, and we’re making a qualitative assessment of their vulnerability to climate.”

Eventually, the group wants to provide fisheries managers, like the North Pacific council, with a better look at what might be coming in 10 years – or even farther down the road. One of the first parts of the plan is just putting together that qualitative assessment for more than a dozen species, which he expects to happen this year.

Read the full story at KDLG