Current Status of Accomplishment or Milestone: This is an ongoing cooperative effort between the PFEL and AZTI, the Fish and Food Technological Institute, located in San Sebastián, Spain. Annual updates of atmospheric flow indices, like those available for standard points on the PFEL www page, are sent in August to provide a physical background for analysis of annual anchovy production. Papers have been published by AZTI researchers relating the upwelling index and the turbulent mixing index to anchovy production.
Background: Spanish fisheries researchers, Ángel Borja, Andrés Uriarte, Victoriano Valencia, Lorenzo Motos and Adolfo Uriarte have used concepts and indices developed at PFEL to relate annual anchovy production in the Bay of Biscay to wind forced upwelling and turbulence. In a recent paper, the Spanish researchers explain that the upwelling index is a better predictor of anchovy production than the turbulence index because the upwelling winds are seldom extreme in the southern Bay of Biscay. Generally, nutrients will be made available to the euphotic zone in a manner that is not disruptive to the upper ocean ecosystem. Consequently, anchovy early life stages will have more continuous feeding and survival opportunities.
Purpose of Activity/Goal of Project: One of the primary interests of PFEL is to make fisheries relevant environmental data available to NMFS scientists. This effort continues and has resulted in many productive studies and journal articles. These research programs have shown that the data produced routinely at PFEL are valuable to globally distributed group of scientists and fisheries managers. Receiving feedback from scientists dealing with important fisheries problems in other parts of the world provides an added dimension in studying west coast fisheries. This is the productive comparative ecosystem approach, developed at PFEL, that continues to be fueled by the issue of data products routinely and by special request.
Description of Accomplishment and Significant Results: The results are significant because the utility of the PFEL data products is additionally documented and the distribution of PFEL/NMFS data products is increased.
Significance of Accomplishment (e.g., to the Center, to Management, and to NMFS Strategic plan Goals): These efforts contribute to the understanding of fish population dynamics and allow assessment of whether observed changes in resource availability are the result of natural or human-related changes.
Problems: None.
Key Contact: Jerry Norton (831-648-9031)