Transcript reist slides BREAfinalx - North Slope Science Initiative

Beaufort Regional Environmental Assessment
Marine Fishing Program:
Integrated Knowledge of the Canadian Beaufort Sea
Jim Reist (lead PI) and Staff from Arctic Aquatic Research Division,
Winnipeg, MB
US-Canada Oil & Gas Forum, Anchorage, Nov 2012
Presented by Lisa Loseto
Beaufort Regional Environmental Assessment
(BREA)
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Oil and Gas Leases (Source: INAC)
BREA
announced by
INAC in Aug
2010
$21.8 Million
over 5 years
Targeted research
to support an
efficient
regulatory
process
Based on the
Beaufort Sea
Strategic
Regional Plan of
Action
(BSTRPA)
Supported by
Inuvialuit,
industry and
governments
Tier 1 Gap Identified for BREA: Presence &
Relevance of Fishes in Deepwater Areas?
Project Overview
• Deepwater fish project proposed and
approved (Sept 2011) by BREA - 5500k
over 5 years (to March 2015)
• BREA Proposal Leveraged:
− PERD (318k to 2012)
− ESRF (1154k to 2014)
− DFO IGS (293k over 3 years)
− ArcticNet (68k ship support)
− Other PI leveraging (~1158k)
− DFO in kind (~3000k)
• Total ~11.5M
• Participants: DFO 15 staff (~ 8 ftes) plus
6 ftes (terms); Universities (3 Canada) staff
+ 6 students + other collaborators
Project Linkages
• Multi-disciplinary ecosystem study with
two major themes:
- Offshore Fishes: diversity, habitat
associations & ecosystem roles
- Coastal Fishes: linkages among subecosystems
• Develop new knowledge for ‘unknown’
offshore ecosystem, establish key baselines
& understand vulnerabilities
• Work complements & extends previous and
ongoing DFO work - are coastal and
offshore processes and outcomes coupled?
• Linked with other BREA, ArcticNet
projects and US (BOEM) work in Beaufort
Completely New Research: Due to previous persistent ice cover, offshore deepwater
fishes, their biodiversity & ecological relationships are presently unknown (isolated
occurrences only), especially in deep waters – first-ever systematic sampling to 1000m.
Overview of Fishes and Their Habitats in the
Canadian Beaufort Sea
• 70 fish sp. in the BS, heterogeneous in distribution and association with sub ecosystems
•Fishes occupy several trophic levels thus are pivotal within ecosystems – e.g., rely on
zooplankton for food and in turn are food for seals, whales and sea birds
• Fishes rely on key habitats at different stages of life – e.g., most larvae -pelagic near surface
• Sub-ecosystems/habitats are connected abiotically (e.g., upwellings, currents) and biotically
(e.g., passively by fish life stages and actively by migratory adult fishes)
BREA Marine Fishes Project Objectives
1) Field survey of offshore area to 1000m depths to establish:
a) fish occurrence and community diversity,
b) habitat associations, and
c) couplings (e.g., foodweb or trophic patterns) within and among
components in offshore (~50-1000m) habitats
2) Establish the functional relationships within/among offshore and slope, shelf
and coastal, benthic and pelagic sub-ecosystems
3) Summarize existing knowledge of fish occurrences and habitat associations
geo-spatially
4) Link offshore research findings with past & ongoing research in the estuary,
coastal and the shelf areas in Canadian & US waters
5) Establish regional contexts for future monitoring & assessments (e.g.,
hydrocarbon metabolites, Hg, species diversity and habitat use)
The Charter Vessel
Name: F/V Frosti (1979)
Home Port: Richmond B.C.
Length: 40 m
Beam: 8 m
Draft: 5 m
Horsepower: 1200
Gross Tonnage: 454
• Vessel retrofitted with side crane & wet/dry lab spaces
• Hydroacoustics system onboard (NOAA)
• Science sea trials, calibration, gear lading & shakedown late July
• Frosti – two weeks transit to Canadian Beaufort Sea (arrive 31 July)
• Science program: 4 August – 4 September, 4 transects each with 7 planned
stations (all science components) & hydroacoustics transect with targeted trawling
2012 Field sampling- F/V Frosti
2006 & 2009
CCGS Nahidik
Sampling Regime
Station sampling (F/V Frosti):
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Oceanography and water sampling: 4 primary transects x 7
stations/transect = 28 stations; 20-1000m depths; 475 linear km; 90km
transect through key transition zone – Mackenzie Trough)
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Zooplankton & ichthyoplankton (larval fishes) at 28 stations
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Sediments & benthic infauna at 27 stations
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Benthic macrofauna at 26 stations
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Fishing – benthic nets at 26 stations (Atlantic Western IIA (WIIA) benthic
otter trawl & 3m beam trawl)
Hydroacoustics & Water-Column (pelagic) sampling (F/V Frosti):
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Re-run transect lines for spatial distribution of biomass (~475 linear km)
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Identify potential aggregations of fish in water column
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Mid-water and benthic fishing to ‘ground-truth’ hydroacoustics (CosomsSwam midwater trawl; 3m beam trawl)
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Run hydroacoustics ‘section’ across area of highest biomass
concentration (i.e., shelf break at ~250-400m depths – 385 linear km)
Coastal Sampling (field camps & local fishers):
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Sampled 3 estuarine and 3 marine sites near to traditional use areas
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6 sites for fishes, beluga, other biota; 2 also for oceanographic
parameters
Deploying the small 3-meter Beam Trawl
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To allow for comparison of benthic catches with previous NCMS work on
Mackenzie Shelf and ongoing Alaskan work, this smaller trawl was deployed.
The main benthic trawl was a larger Otter trawl (not shown).
Diversity of catches in smaller trawls was similar to that of larger benthic trawl but
abundances were less.
Larger-bodied fishes tend to avoid these smaller trawls.
Fishes Captured: 9258 individuals from 11 families
Righteye flounders 113
Eelpouts 311
Poachers
Sculpins
Lumpsuckers
Arctic Cod (B. saida)
Larval fishes
Snailfishes 286
Snailfishes
Lanternfishes
Righteye flounders
Fathead sculpins
Skates
Sculpins 359
Pricklebacks
Unidentified
Eelpouts
Arctic Cod 7915
Preliminary Findings - Overall Fish Catch
Family
Common name
Agonidae
Alligatorfish
Cottidae
Sculpins
Cyclopteridae
Lumpsuckers
Gadidae
Larval fish
Liparidae
Arctic/Polar Cod
(mostly B. saida)
Snailfishes
Weight
Number of catch
of fish
(kg)
0.27
130
1.49
359
5
7915
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286
17
0.07
51.59
0.03
6.09
0.07
Myctophidae
Lanternfishes
Pleuronectidae
Righteye
flounders
Psychrolutidae
Fathead sculpins
12
Rajidae
Skates
15
25.34
Stichaeidae
Unidentified
Pricklebacks
95
0
0.16
Zoarcidae
Grand Total
Eelpouts
311
9258
6.13
113
115.18
0.6
0.11
207.74
• Arctic Cod (and Polar Cod) are largest
percentage of catch (85%).
• Most Arctic Cod caught in pelagic
(water column habitats) at ~250-400m
(= halocline transition between fresher
warmer Pacific and saltier colder
Atlantic waters).
• Halocline likely is a dynamic feature
concentrating pelagic food and fishes.
• Benthos in shallower depths appears
to represent Pacific species (e.g., Bering
Flounder, Snow Crab).
• Deeper stations likely represent
Atlantic water masses & associated
fishes (e.g., Greenland Halibut, some of
these species are new records for area).
• Much greater diversity in benthic vs
pelagic fishes in offshore areas.
Larger epibenthic species in the Canadian Beaufort
Greenland Halibut
Bering Flounder (new record?)
Snow Crab & Basket Starfish
Snow Crab
Offshore Demersal Fishes in the Canadian Beaufort Sea
(>450m)
(200-450m)
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(shallow)
SHELF
SLOPE
BASIN
• Fish community composition shifts with depth
• These shifts are coincident with changes in habitat features: depth, salinity,
temperature, sediment composition & prey composition
• Arctic cod present across all offshore habitats but dominate the slope community
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Multi-year sea ice
Warmer, saltier Atlantic water mass
Atlantic species present
Benthic catch abundance less dominated by Arctic Cod
B. Sheiko
Lanternfishes
Flatfishes
Eelpouts
Convergence of Pacific & Atlantic water masses Snailfishes
Thermocline/Halocline concentrate food and fishes
Demersal fish community dominated by Arctic cod
Snailfishes
Arctic Cod
B. Sheiko
< 50m
Disturbance from seasonal ice scour
Pacific Water mass with Mackenzie R. sediments & freshwater
Shift in fish community composition at 50 m depth
Staghorn Sculpin
> 50m
B. Sheiko
(Majewski et al. submitted)
All photos from DFO unless otherwise specified
Alligatorfish
Eelblennies
Benthic Fish Abundance by
Shallow 20m - 75m
Habitat
Slope 200m - 500m
Skates
Off Slope
750m - 1000m
Snailfish
Arctic
Cod (B.
Righteye Flounders
Pelagic Fish Relative Abundance by Habitat
Pacific water mass 60m200m
Snailfish
Sharp Halocline
200m-300m
Atlantic water mass 300m
1000m
Arctic Cod
(B. saida)
Lanternfish
Preliminary Findings
Fishes
So What?
• Oceanographic parameters, physical
topography and substrate type
determine fish diversity
• Diversity and biomass are both
relatively high in benthic areas and
in key transition zones (especially on
slope drop off)
• Arctic/Polar Cod is most abundant
and widespread fish species but
others important locally
• Species are associated with specific
habitats (water masses) but also
geographically patterned (east-west)
• Fish benthic diversity much higher
than pelagic diversity
• Some large-bodied fishes present
• Benthic fishes tend to be more
sedentary than pelagic species, e.g.,
establish local home ranges, thus are
vulnerable to local impacts
• Pelagic species tend to be more
mobile thus are vulnerable to
widespread impacts
• Some species and habitats are more
important than others
Fishes in their Ecosystem
• Other aspects of overall study will
determine food web (trophic)
patterns, energetics, relevance of
other key biota, and baselines for
monitoring and linkages with coastal
systems and higher trophic levels.
Where to next on fishes and other biota?
Sample Processing
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Identifications confirmed
Biological parameters
Tissues for lab analyses
Diversity and abundance over
space, habitat and depth
Lab Analyses
• Fatty Acids, Hg, PAHs & stress
metabolites at DFO Winnipeg
• Water Chemistry at DFO
Winnipeg and IOS Sidney
• Linkages to past coastal &
nearshore studies (data analysis)
• Linkages to coastal components
(sample & data analyses)
Follow-on Collaborations
• Stable Isotopes (C,N) – U Waterloo
• Benthic invertebrates – U Quebec at
Rimouski
• Energetics & coastal work – U
Manitoba
• Hydroacoustics Data Analysis – U
Laval (ArcticNet)
• Linkages with BOEM & U Alaska
Fairbanks – matching of outcomes
Future Work
• Planning 2013 BREA field program
• Planning/linkages to ArcticNet 2013
field program (hydroacoustics)
• Integration of relevant data into
geospatial planning tools
BREA Frosti Offshore Fishes Crew 2012
Back – Left to Right:
Wojciech Walkusz
Andy Majewski
Lorena Edenfield
Guillaume Meisterhans
Laure de Montety
Front – Left to Right:
Sheila Atchison
Shannon MacPhee
Charlie Reuben
Field Crew aboard F/V Frosti
Jane Eert
(Present in Spirit: Jim Reist
& Rob Young – photos)
Other project participants at DFO: B. Cress, J. Delaronde, J. Johnson, T. Loewen, L. Loseto, B. Lynn, A. MacHutchon,
C. Michel, B. Rosenberg, G. Stern & G. Tomy.
Outside direct participants: B. Norcross (UAF), L. Fortier (ULaval), M. Geoffroy (ULaval), M. Power (UWaterloo), J.
Treberg (UManitoba), H. Swanson (UWaterloo).
Overview of Fishes and Their Habitats in the
Canadian Beaufort Sea
Beaufort Sea Fishes: ~70 species
Fishes Associate with Areas or Subecosystems and Habitats:
– Freshwater species some times in
freshened nearshore areas
– Sea-run species (chars, whitefishes)
seasonally present (summer only)
coastally and on shelf
– Coastal (0- ~20+m depths) marine
species tolerant of wide salinities
– Nearshore/Shelf (~20-200m) species
• Pelagic species (water column)
• Benthic species (bottom)
– Slope (~200-400+m) species
• Pelagic species
• Benthic species
– Offshore (~400-1500m) species
• Pelagic species
• Benthic species
• Abyssal species
– Ice – if present acts as focal point for
biota (e.g., feeding area) and also as
predatory refuge for some fishes
Some Overall Considerations
• Fishes occupy several trophic levels thus are
pivotal within ecosystems – e.g., rely on
zooplankton for food and in turn are food for
seals, whales and sea birds
• Fishes rely on key habitats at different stages of
life – e.g., most larvae are pelagic near surface
• Sub-ecosystems/habitats are connected
abiotically (e.g., upwellings, currents) and
biotically (e.g., passively by fish life stages and
actively by migratory adult fishes)
Hydroacoustics – Midwater Trawl Sampling
• Detect pelagic organisms and document their assemblage and biomass within surface
and bottom aggregations, with particular focus on Arctic Cod
•“Truth” targets identified on acoustic echogram with fishing nets
• Work linked with Laval University (ArcticNet program – Geoffroy & Fortier)
200 m
400 m
Adult Arctic Cod
• After all stations on a transect were sampled, the transect was rerun using the hydroacoustic system to estimate pelagic biomass.
• Preliminary results suggest a near-bottom aggregation of Arctic
Cod between approximately 200 – 400 m depth spanning the
Canadian Beaufort Shelf.
• Arctic/Polar Cod relatively abundant in pelagic habitats also, but
less so in deeper water further offshore.
Pelagic Sampling & Hydroacoustics Groundtruthing
Arctic Cod = typical midwater catch.
Glacier Lanternfish (Benthosema
glaciale) – new Beaufort Sea record
(?); Baffin Bay, North Atlantic,
pelagic to 1250m.
Possible Points of Intersection of O&G
Development with Marine Fishes
Development Activity
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Seismic Exploration
Ship-based Drilling
– Pelagic ecosystem
– Benthic ecosystem – habitat loss
Land-based Drilling
– Habitat alteration (borrow pits,
islands)
Support Activities (ice-breaking, marine
traffic)
Discharges & minor spills
Catastrophic incidents
Cumulative Effects (O&G Activity)
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Temporal cumulation
Spatial cumulation
Noise (pelagic & benthic habitats):
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Hard substrate (rocks, gravel fields, etc.) limited in location and
extent – removal may affect ‘naturally rare’ species requiring these
habitats
Creation of artificial islands would result in small losses of local
habitat, but diversity of habitats likely increased (?positive effect)
Toxic or Contaminant Effect (episodic release):
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Habitat or refugium loss (e.g., Arctic Cod)
Benthic Habitat loss/alteration:
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unknown/uncertain summer relevance.
Ice-breaking and Ice loss/alteration:
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episodic high dB outputs have uncertain effects on fish hearing and
sound communications (e.g., ?fatal close to source; cods attracted to
air guns); effects on Arctic Cod a key pelagic species are unknown.
Small footprints relative to area and general habitat types suggest
limited benthic effects.
Chronic noisy sources (e.g., ship operation) at lower dB are
unknown but could include exclusion from pelagic habitats.
Light effects:
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Temporal cumulation over life time of
population
Spatial cumulation over life history
Cumulative Effects (many stressors)
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Activity Consequences
Localized (spatial & temporal) habitat exclusion of organisms
Short-term productivity effects
Limited entrainment and bioaccumulation in ecosystem
Chronic Toxic or Contaminant Effect (catastrophic release):
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Extensive (spatial & temporal) habitat exclusion
Long-term productivity effects
Significant entrainment and bioaccumulation in ecosystem
Overview Other Components: Oceanography (Eert)
Conductivity, Temperature & Depth and
Water Sampling Rosette
Salinity – Dalhousie 12
Temperature – Dalhousie 12
Zooplankton and fish larvae sampling - MultiNet & Bongos
(Walkusz)
• 200 zooplankton samples
• Copepods, Euphausids and
Amphipods mainly
• 320 fish larvae collected
(1/3 Arctic cod)
• Spatial & depth analyses for
taxonomy, diversity & relative
abundance ongoing
• 21 taxa chosen for analysis
of foodweb patterns,
energetics and baseline
contaminant markers (Hg,
PAHs)
Sediments & Benthic Invertebrates – MacPhee, de
Montety & Archambault
• Characterize bottom substrate as a key habitat feature for benthic marine fishes
• (% sand, silt, clay, organic content, contaminants & benthic chlorophyll)
• Characterize benthic fauna as important food resources to marine fishes and other
biota (diversity, abundance, biomass, and food-web linkages)
Bottom Trawling for Epifauna
No. Stations
Sampled: 29
Box Coring for Sediments & Infauna
No. Stations
Sampled: 27
Benthos in the Offshore Canadian Beaufort Sea
Epifauna
Infauna
• Polychaete worms
occurred at all
depths and
substrate types
Themisto
Cephalopods
Squid
Polar Shrimp
Snow Crab
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Asteridae
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Bivalves & Gastropods present in
sediment with higher % sand and gravel
Many invertebrates sampled are important food sources to fishes and marine mammals
Stable isotope and fatty acid analyses will be used to assess benthic-pelagic coupling and
the ecological role of benthic invertebrates
Establish baselines for contaminants (Hg & PAHs) from key species
Photos: Laure de Montety (UQAR) except Themisto, R. Hopcroft
Primary Productivity - Michel & Meisterhans
Spatial distribution of surface
chlorophyll a
Note strong influence of Mackenzie
River
TBS12 transect
Note low
productivity
offshore water
Section distance (km)
Structural and Functional Relationships of Mercury:
Baselines & Patterns (Stern)
Mercury exists in a range of chemical forms as it cycles through the Arctic environment;
mercury bioaccumulates and biomagnifies within ecosystems and biota.
Hg
To date, virtually no information is
available on biomagnification and
bioaccumulation of mercury in deep
water and shelf adult fishes.
Key baselines established for future
reference.
PAHs and metabolites in Beaufort Sea Biota (Tomy)
• Establish baseline levels of Poly Aromatic
Hydrocarbons (PAH) and their metabolites in fish
from coastal waters in the Beaufort Sea
• PAHs can be readily metabolized by many fish
species; the resulting metabolites pose a greater
threat to fish health than do the parent compounds
• Background values will be established for
indicators of fish health (e.g., thyroid hormone
levels, levels of oxidative stress) due to exposure to
PAHs and their toxic metabolites
• Baselines will provide for future comparative
studies
Fish Habitats in the Beaufort Sea in Summer
Three Groups of Fish Habitats
(E. Carmack)
1. Water column (pelagic) with layers of different
densities (salinities):
• Fresh river inputs (Mackenzie R.) – 0-10m
(highly mixed waters 0-30 psu)
• Mixed layers (SML/WML) on the shelf –
10-60m
• Pacific (BSSW/BSWW) water – 60-200m
• Sharp halocline (LHW) – 200-300m
• Atlantic Water (AW) – 300-1000+m
2. Bottom (benthic) types:
• Fine muds and clays (Mackenzie eastwards)
• Gravel patches & muds (western areas)
• Bedrock further offshore in west
3. Coastal & nearshore surface (0-5+m): highly
freshened (5-20 psu) narrow band west and east,
wide near Mackenzie outflow
Combinations of salinity, temperature, depth, and/or
bottom type determine fishes present in pelagic
(water column) or benthic (bottom) habitats.