| Ecosystems
change as the physical environment affects them. Recruitment
(the abundance of adult fish of a certain age returning to commercial fishing
areas) of pollock to the Shelikof Strait fishery spiked in the late 1970s
just as the PDO was changing phases.
Pollock are not the only marine
species whose abundance and distribution track the PDO. West coast and Alaskan
salmon seem to fluctuate through boom and bust cycles in league with the
PDO, with the cold phase favoring west coast and the warm phase favoring
Alaska salmon catches.
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