Transcript Fisheries and Climate Change

Oceans and Fisheries
Dr. John T. Everett
National Marine Fisheries Service
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
United States Department of Commerce
About the Ocean
• Half of Americans live and work within 50 miles of
the coast
• Coastal areas are only 11 percent of our land
• An acre of coastal waters or wetlands can
produce more food than the best farm land
• Commercial and recreational fisheries support
more than 1.3 million jobs, and in 1995 added
more than $20 billion to the economy
• 80 % of ocean pollution comes from the land
• Coastal tourism provides 28 million jobs
Functions of Oceans
• Climate Regulator
• Resources and Products
– fish and shellfish, marine mammals, and seaweeds
– petroleum, sand and gravel, sulfur, hot brines,
manganese nodules, and polymetallic sulfides at
spreading centers
– include water and unconventional energy resources
• Waste Reception and Recycling
• Recreation and Tourism
• Transportation
Pollution
The ocean is so big. Is pollution a problem?
Recreation
Is all recreation harmless to the ocean?
Recreation No-Nos
What are some ways to harm the ocean?
Touching coral, running through beach grass,
leaving trash, catching too many fish, chasing
whales.......
Fishing
The ocean is so big. Aren’t there plenty of fish?
Sustainable Fisheries
• Some fisheries have lasted for 100s of years
• Many have disappeared quickly
• How do we bring them all back to full production?
1992....
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0
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Global Total
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Million Tons
120
Fisheries Production
100
80
Marine
60
40
Aquaculture and USA
figures are non-additive
Freshw ater
Aq.
USA
Being a Fisheries Scientist
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What kinds of fish are there?
How many fish are there? Where? When?
How fast do they grow?
What should the quota be?
What diseases are there? What causes
them?
• What are the ecosystem relationships?
• What habitats are needed?
Getting the Education
• Are you interested in fish or marine
mammals?
• Are you interested in biology, ecology, or
math?
• Get BS and MS in marine biology and/or
math
• PhD needed for college teaching and
senior scientist
• Shortage in stock assessment scientists
Apparent Oceanwide Synchrony
in Pacific Basin Sardines
Historical catches in the sardine fisheries of Japan, California and Peru-Chile have exhibited parallel
patterns, possibly in response to global-scale changes in climate (modified from Kawasaki, 1992).
800
7
Peru/Chile
(Thousand Metric Tons)
California Sardine Catch
5
500
California
4
400
3
300
2
200
100
1
Japan
0
0
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990
Year
Sources: U.S. GLOBEC, FAO 1995, NMFS/Our Living Oceans 1996
Catch (Million Metric Tons)
600
6
Japan and Peru/Chile Sardine
700
Normalized Catch Time Series
Comparison of pink salmon catch in the Gulf of Alaska with coho salmon catch in the Washington, Oregon,
California region (Francis and Sibley, 1991).
2.5
2
Standard Index
1.5
1
WOC Coho
GOA Pink
0.5
0
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-1
-1.5
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990
Year
Getting the Information
• Surveys with research vessels
– Trawls, long lines, pots, gill nets, sonar
• Surveys with aircraft
– LIDAR, observation
• Catch statistics
• Phone interviews with creel census
• Observers on fishing vessels
Research Tools
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Laboratories and Equipment
Research Vessels
Satellite Remote Sensing
Computers
People
Money
Infrastructure - Labs
Auke Bay
Sandy Hook
Montlake
Miami
Fisheries Ships
ALBATROSS IV - AGE: 34
OREGON II - AGE: 31
TOWNSEND CROMWELL - AGE: 34
AGE: 30
El Niño
• ENSO makes weather vary in much of the world
• Every 3 to 10 years; in recent years more frequently
• Will ENSO change with global warming?
Ocean Currents
What Can You Do?
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Learn all you can. Read, surf the web, and go to the ocean.
Be a smart shopper. Learn more about your seafood.
Conserve water.
Use a broom instead of a hose to clean your driveway.
Use less household chemicals such as herbicides, pesticides
and cleaners. Reduce waste.
Dispose of trash properly. Recycle, re-use, and compost.
Reduce automobile pollution. Fix leaks.
Protect ocean wildlife. Don't dispose of fishing lines, nets or
plastic in or near the water. Be considerate of sealife habitats.
Don't feed sea birds or mammals or disturb their nest areas.
Get involved. Take part in a beach cleanup.
Care! Tell others!
Where to Put the City
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Near healthy stocks of fish
On firm bottom
Near warm water to reduce energy needs
Outside shipping routes
Near a supply center
Near an energy source, at least for backup.