"Why Storms are Good News for Fishermen"

I always knew that weather played a role in how many fish I caught on a given day. I'm a fair weather fisher, so if the weather is bad, I stay at home! But, for those more dedicated fishermen and fisherwomen (sidenote: are women fisherMEN as well?) and for those who fish for a living, it turns out that the weather plays a pretty important role in a given fishing harvest.

According to an article in the New Scientist, individual storms or particularly cold winters can lead to bumper fish harvests years later:

In many cases [...] it comes down to the survival of the young. "It's all about making it through that first summer," says Nicholas Bond of the University of Washington in Seattle

Take the walleye pollock in the Bering Sea off Alaska, the basis of the largest single fishery in the world. [...] When Bond looked at the years in which high numbers of young pollocks survived, he found they were characterised by summer storms.

Storms matter because they bring up deep water rich in the nutrients essential for the growth of phytoplankton. "These events essentially fertilise the oceans," says Bond. During calm summers, phytoplankton growth slows early as the nutrients brought up by winter storms are used up. Summer storms refresh the surface waters, allowing phytoplankton to continue thriving - and young pollock to grow fat.

While predicting individual storms is not possible, says Bond, predicting their effects is. Three years after a stormy summer, when pollock that hatched in the good year become large enough to be caught, catches will rise. Recent falls in pollock numbers could be partly due to a series of calm, warm summers, he says, although 2006 was a good year for young pollock."

The case of the pollock mentioned above is just one example of harvest variability that is shown with changing weather conditions. Also mentioned in this article are salmon, crab, cod, tuna, and anchovies. Having climatic insight into a given fishing season's potential yield, 3 years in advance, could help to reverse the effects of the mismanagement of our fisheries here on the Pacific North Coast.

With many other fisheries teetering on the brink, these new insights could prove vital. If we can predict how fish numbers will vary naturally months or even years in advance, managers can reduce quotas before stocks are decimated, or increase them when conditions are favourable.

To read more about how different marine species are impacted by a change in climate, visit the full article in issue 2689 of the New Scientist.

Ocean Health Data - Just a click Away

Check this out! An interactive mapping website has just been launched showing the cumulative impact of human activities on marine ecosystems around the world.

The tool allows you to view maps of cumulative human impacts on oceans anywhere in the world. You can also produce a summary report that includes explanations for the impact scores. Just zoom in on an area of ocean you are curious about and then with a quick left-click a detailed data summary popup will appear.

For example, when I zoom in and click on the area around the Vancouver harbour the pop up says the ocean based pollution index is .490 (the maximum is 1.00). Clicking on the area between the north island and the Queen Charlottes, the pollution index is .197.

Other indicators include: Organic pollution, Sea temperature increase, Demersal (the area just off the ocean bed) destructive fishing, UV radiation Nutrient runoff, Pelagic (any water in the ocean that is not near the bottom) high-bycatch fishing, Demersal non-destructive high-bycatch fishing, Ocean acidification, Pelagic low-bycatch fishing, Direct human impact (population pressure), Oil rigs.

You also get a summary of human activities. For the Vancouver harbor area:
· High levels of human activity related to Ocean acidification and UV radiation.
· Moderate levels of human activity related to Ocean-based pollution and Sea temperature increase.
· Low levels of human activity related to Demersal non-destructive low-bycatch fishing, Demersal non-destructive high-bycatch fishing, Artisanal fishing, Organic pollution, Inorganic pollution, Pelagic low-bycatch fishing, Demersal destructive fishing, Commercial shipping and Nutrient runoff.
· No human activity related to Oil rigs, Direct human impact (population pressure), Pelagic high-bycatch fishing and Invasive species.

This is one of those web sites you’ll want to play around with for a while and then bookmark for future reference. http://globalmarine.nceas.ucsb.edu/

Ocean and Climate Advocate to head NOAA

There is another encouraging piece of news for the oceans from south of the border. President-elect Barack Obama has tapped Oregon State University professor Jane Lubchenco, one of the US’s most prominent marine biologists, to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This along with Tuesday’s announcement about the designation of 200,000 square miles of marine reserves in the South Pacific (see Bush’s Ocean Legacy below) bode well for oceans and climate.

Lubchenco, a conservationist who has devoted much of her career to encouraging scientists to become more engaged in public policy debates, is also a vocal proponent of curbing greenhouse gases linked to global warming. Apparently over the years, Lubchenco has also been critical of the agency for not doing enough to curb overfishing. This sounds hopeful; she is now in charge of the agency she was critical of.

Obama has selected a woman, the first to head the agency, and one who's both a respected researcher and been an active player in national policy discussions. Andrew Rosenberg, who served as deputy director of NOAA's Fisheries Service under Clinton, praised Lubchenco as an "absolutely world class scientist." He added, "It's saying that science agencies have a role in policy. They need to be tightly connected, and I believe they will be tightly connected under Jane."

Dr. Lubchenco said, "The dialogue is now shifting gears from climate science to climate action. There's still a lot we need to learn about the science, but the events of the past year have ended much of the lingering debate and controversy. The most important question now is what can individuals, communities, states and nations do to reduce and prepare for climate change."

Does that ever sound like a breath of fresh air after 8 years of denials about climate change from the Bush administration.

Streamkeepers

Last week while having coffee with a friend, I guiltily admitted that since returning to Canada a few months ago, I realize that I can easily go the whole day without ever 'really' being outside. I go from the house to the car to the ferry to the office back to the ferry to the car and back home again. With sidewalks slippery at this time of year, I've moved my outdoor runs into a basement gym, so even my exercise takes place indoors. My friend agreed that many people these days don't get outside as much as they should, and he mentioned Streamkeepers, an organization with which he volunteers in his spare time.

Streamkeepers are groups of volunteers who participate in trainings and workshops about working in and around fish habitat. A small example of the modules provided in Streamkeeper trainings are: streamside planting, streamside fencing, stream invertebrate survey, and salmonoid spawner survey. Streamkeeper volunteers go out to local creeks and streams, collect and report data, and maintain the stream and surrounding environment. They also do a lot of community outreach: have you ever walked by a roadside drain and seen a yellow fish painted beside it, reminding you that the water flowing into that storm drain flows directly into a nearby creek? That reminder comes courtesy of your local Streamkeeper group.

There are Streamkeepers groups throughout British Columbia; and I'm going to look into joining one locally. It's the perfect remedy for my recent indoors-dominated lifestyle.

Bush's Ocean Legacy

Thank God for ego! Did I say that? If it weren’t for George Bush’s need to create a positive legacy for his presidency, nearly 200, 000 square miles of ocean would never be designated as conservation areas.

Tuesdays formal announcement about this conservation move inspired Diane Regas, manager of the ocean program at the Environmental Defense Fund to say, "The president has given the world a Texas-sized gift.”

The politics behind this move reflect a lot about the Bush White House. Apparently Vice President Dick Cheney tried to block the move but Laura Bush took a rare step and became quite engaged in policy making. She arranged briefings for White House staff and from scientists in support of the plan in order to silence the Cheney lobby.

The marine reserves are all in the South Pacific. The areas include the Mariana Islands in the western Pacific (which includes Guam where a major US-Japanese battle occurred in WWII), a chain of remote islands in the central Pacific, and the Rose Atoll off American Samoa.

The Marianas Marine National Monument will protect the Mariana Trench - deeper than Mount Everest is tall and five times the size of the Grand Canyon - and a string of 21 active volcanoes and thermal vents. Wow!

The area is home to 300 species of stony corals and some of the most diverse fish populations in the Mariana Islands. It also harbours the Micronesian megapode, a bird which uses the heat from the volcanic vents to incubate its eggs.

One wonders if Steven Harper is interested in his legacy. He could become the Conservation Prime Minster and follow through on commitments to marine protected areas and marine planning. Perhaps we should be having tea with Laureen Harper to see if we can influence oceans policy?

Pacific Salmon Treaty

On Monday, Canada and the United States renewed the Pacific Salmon Treaty (PST), first signed in 1985. Some changes were made to the PST, and the renewed chapters "will help to ensure the long-term sustainability of Pacific salmon stocks while supporting an economically viable fishing industry on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border".

While I applaud the Honorable Gail Shea, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, (in picture) for continuing to keep long-term sustainability of Pacific salmon stocks on the agenda, I can't help but feel a little pessimistic. This treaty was first signed 24 years ago, and for the past 24 years, fish population and ocean health has declined - largely a result of poor fisheries management practices.

The renewed treaty will remain in place until 2018, at which point I assume it will be reviewed and renewed again. Or perhaps by that time, it will no longer be necessary, because there will be no remaining wild Pacific salmon to protect.

A gloomy thought...

Oil Hungry Nation

Some news from south of the border shows how important it is to maintain British Columbia’s moratorium on offshore drilling. Besides the reality that spills can have devastating effects on sea life, the hungry oil companies seem to be waiting for any opportunity to drill.

I didn’t know it, but America’s 27 year old moratorium on offshore drilling was allowed to lapse this last year when Congress failed to renew it. So now, a nation addicted to oil, with a new president and new adminstration, is considering drilling off the coasts of both Oregon and California. Seizing on this, the Department of the Interior has moved to open some or all of federal waters, which begin 3 miles from shore and are outside of state control for exploration beginning in 2010. This means there could be drilling rigs as early as 2012.

The surprising thing is that Obama is somewhat vague on how he is going to respond to this. As well, his designated interior secretary and head of the nation's ocean-drilling agency, Sen. Ken Salazar, hasn't said what he would do in coastal waters. And Obama, while indicating he wants to move America away from its addiction to oil, has also implied that he is open to the idea of offshore drilling if it is part of a comprehensive package, adding that he would turn over the question to his team.

Even more frightening is this: "We've been encouraged that the president-elect has chosen Sen. Salazar," said Dan Naatz, vice president for federal resources with the Independent Petroleum Association of America, a group with 5,000 members that drill 90 percent of the oil and natural gas wells in the United States. "He's from the West, and he understands federal land policy, which is really key."

Much of this activity began last summer when fuel prices shot through the roof and America was wrestling with foreign oil dependency issues. We are prone to the same forces here in Canada and therefore must remain vigilant that the BC moratorium remains!