Farallon Institute News
The North Coast Program
May, 2010
A major new coastal studies research and management initiative to promote scientifically sound catch limits and guide the restoration on salmon populations by accounting for ocean ecosystem change and variability is now underway. Led by Farallon Institute and the Sonoma County Water Agency, with collaborators including UC Davis, Bodega Marine Laboratory, Humboldt State University (HSU), Northwest and Southwest Fisheries Science Centers of NOAA/NMFS, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), and the Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System (CeNCOOS), the a North Coast Program focuses on Chinook and Coho salmon and Steelhead populations in northern California.
Symposium at upcoming Eastern Pacific Ocean Conference (EPOC): Phenology: is timing everything?
April 22-24, 2010
Andy Thomas (University of Maine) and Bill Sydeman (Farallon Institute) are co-convening a symposium at the upcoming EPOC meeting at Timberline Lodge, Oregon. Phenology is the study of the seasonal timing of physical and biological components of the ecosystem and the causes and consequences of timing variability. Changes in phenology imposed by a warming climate are likely (IPCC, AR4), impacting those trophic linkages that depend on optimal environmental windows or matched timing. From a biological perspective, species within a community may adapt synchronously to change in their physical environment making phenological changes less significant. However, if rates of adaptation differ between species, or phenological changes in physical characteristics impose changes in biogeography, there is the potential for disruption of previously co-evolved trophic dependencies. This session seeks both modeling and observational papers addressing all aspects of changing ocean phenology, from physical processes and forcing to all levels of the food web. We especially seek papers that are multi-disciplinary, integrated, and cover multiple trophic levels and their interactions / dependencies.
Press Democrat report on this year’s salmon fishing season
April 8, 2010
Fishery regulators will begin debating Monday whether to allow sport and commercial salmon fishing in Northern California this year, following fish counts in the Sacramento River system that were the lowest in years.
California Ocean Protection Council and California Sea Grant award new project to NOAA-NMFS and collaborators, including Farallon Institute
March, 2010
California’s Chinook salmon fisheries appear to be becoming increasingly variable, with (recent) record abundances followed by record lows leading to fishery closure. Why is this happening and what can resource managers do about it? The three year project entitled ”The future of the California Chinook salmon fishery: Roles of climate variation, habitat restoration, hatchery practices, and biocomplexity” will examine multiple and cumulative influences affecting the salmon fishery. Principal investigators Brian Wells and Steven Lindley (NOAA, Southwest Fishery Science Center, Fisheries Ecology Division (FED), Santa Cruz will lead the research. Associate researchers include Eric Bjorkstedt (FED); Louis Botsford, UC Davis), John Field (FED) John Carlos Garza (FED), Churchill Grimes (FED), David Hankin (Humboldt State University), Sean Hayes (FED), Bruce MacFarlane (FED), Melodie Palmer-Zwahlen (California Department of Fish and Game), Michael O’Farrell (FED), William Sydeman (Farallon Institute), and Cindy Thomson (FED).
New Alaska Sea Grant award to Farallon Institute, NOAA-NMFS and University of Alaska
February 01, 2010
The project, titled Increased Variance As a Leading Indicator of Reorganization in Alaskan Marine Ecosystems: An Empirical Test will investigate whether marine ecosystems respond to external forcing with abrupt reorganizations that are economically and socially devastating to fishing communities. Using novel ecosystem modeling approaches, FI scientist Mike Litzow and collaborators Franz Mueter (UAF) and Dan Urban (NOAA-NMFS) will conduct a study exploring the use of variance (rather than the mean) in fisheries statistics an indicator of ecosystem reorganization. The team will test key parameters for increasing in spatial variance prior to ecological reorganizations in Alaskan waters during the 1970’s and 1980’s.
Russian River salmon in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat
January 12, 2010
Lower numbers of Chinook Salmon are returning to the Russian River of Central California again this year. In an article in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Dr. Sydeman emphasizes that these shrinking populations reflect coast-wide reductions in salmon abundance and changes in the nearshore ocean environment.
NOAA bans commercial harvesting of krill
July 13, 2009
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) published a final rule in the Federal Register prohibiting the harvesting of krill in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) off the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington. Krill are important because they convert microscopic phytoplankton into a food source for numerous other species and are a principal food source for many species of fish, seabirds and marine mammals. Some of the species that depend on krill as prey are listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act, and many others are important as target species for commercial and recreational fisheries on the west coast.
2009 Seabird Die-off in the San Francisco Chronicle
May 02, 2009
President WJ Sydeman says that the success of seabirds in the Bay Area is linked to fish populations, in a San Francisco Chronicle article by Jane Kay.
Sydeman to serve on the California Ocean Protection Council’s Science Advisory Team (OPC-SAT)
February 29, 2008
The California Ocean Protection Council helps coordinate and improve the protection and management of California’s ocean and coastal resources. The members of the OPC-Science Advisory Team are chosen to ensure that the best available science is applied to OPC policy decisions and to provide expert review, advice, and synthesis of scientific inquiries made by OPC or its staff. Dr. Sydeman was selected to serve at the OPC’s February meeting.