U.S. Department of Commerce / NOAA / OAR / ERL / PMEL / FOCI
	Fisheries-Oceanography Coordinated Investigations

Carrie Hadden, Steve Hammond (via teleconference), Al Hermann, Anne Hollowed, Art Kendall, Pat Livingston, Allen Macklin, Ron Reed, Bill Rugen  (rapporteur)

• SEBSCC Phase I final reports are due to the FOCI Coordinator by May 1.

• UV in Alaska: an opportunity for cooperative monitoring - Betsy Weatherhead contacted FOCI for assistance in siting  ultraviolet (UV) monitors in the Arctic, including subsurface marine installations.  She is interested in deploying new sensors at places and times that are most useful for studying effects.  Art Kendall noted that UV has been studied with Atlantic cod eggs, and that UV monitoring of the Bering Sea shelf would be informative, as pollock eggs are found near the surface there.  Phyllis Stabeno would like to invite Betsy to participate in monitoring activities at site 2 on the Bering Sea shelf.  Allen said that Phyllis Stabeno was interested in deploying a UV meter on a surface mooring.  Art noted that a graduate student working with Bruce Miller on the affects of UV on lingcod larvae may be able to add some expertise to such a collaboration.  FOCI will prepare a response to Betsy for J. Balsiger, AFSC Director.

Pat Livingston reported on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council Groundfish Plan Teams’ acceptance of her plan to standardize and broaden ecosystem information.  For the past five years or so, general ecosystem information and concerns have been expressed informally in the Ecosystems Consideration chapter of the Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) reports.  Pat's plan, outlined in the memo attached to these minutes, is to move forward in linking ecosystem information to the management process and to better track the efficacy of some management actions made with the intent of protecting ecosystem components.   Pat suggested that FOCI has valuable ecosystem information relating to the physical environment, living marine resources, forage fish, and ecosystem or community indicators.   A number of products were indicated, including physical oceanographic and atmospheric time series and indices, phytoplankton and zooplankton abundance trends, juvenile pollock abundance and trends, and biological modeling results.   Expected system responses to changing climate scenarios, like those that FOCI and other scientists produced for GLOBEC several years ago, would also be useful.  Allen Macklin and an AFSC designate will work with Pat and her team to develop products and insure that transfer of  FOCI information is completed by the first week in August of each year.

• Art Kendall and Bill Rugen reported on the recently completed cruise 1MF99 to the eastern Bering Sea shelf.  The  focus of the cruise was to collect live pollock eggs for experiments in Seattle and to spawn eggs for use in Seattle and Newport.  As part of this operation, a small-scale bongo grid was conducted to the north and east of Unimak Pass.  The highest concentrations of eggs were found in the southeastern corner of this grid.  The wide range of egg stages found there show that spawning has occurred over a protracted time period. This is also where trawling was done to collect spawning adult pollock.   Sampling was also done at and around mooring 2, and six MOCNESS tows were completed to investigate the vertical distribution of pollock eggs.  Few problems were encountered with the Miller Freeman following her yard overhaul.

 
• Anne Hollowed asked about a "flow through" plankton sampling system like the one used off the west coast last year by John Hunter to investigate sardine egg distribution.  Art said that as part of the dry dock work on the Miller Freeman, implantation of a system similar to this was begun.  The system would allow sampling either through an image analysis system where estimates are done based on particle size or through a direct collection of samples with a net system.  Currently the size and shape of the net collection system is incompatible with the space available on the Freeman.  There will be discussions with the manufacturer to see if modifications can be made.  It was agreed that this system has great potential.

 
• The current Miller Freeman cruise science party is performing mooring, hydrographic and biological work at mooring sites and the transects between them.  Moorings are also being deployed for the NSF Inner Front study, and sea ice south of Nunivak Island may cause some of the mooring sites to be moved.

The next FOCI PI meeting will be held at 10 a.m., May 13, 1999, in the Cloud Chamber (3/2065).  Please submit to Allen Macklin, no later than the day before the meeting, agenda items and fax-ready copies of figures or handouts that you intend to present at the next meeting.

Mail corrections and addenda to the FOCI Coordinator.

Here are some ideas about expanding and standardizing some of the content of the Ecosystems Consideration Chapter to more clearly highlight the status of ecosystem-based management efforts and the status and trends of various parts of the ecosystem.  These changes and additions would accomplish several goals:

1. track ecosystem management efforts and their efficacy
2. track changes in the ecosystem that are not easily incorporated into single-species assessments
3. bring results from ecosystem research efforts to the attention of stock assessment scientists and fishery managers
4. provide a stronger link between ecosystem research at AFSC (and elsewhere) and fishery management

I.  ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT INDICES
Purpose: To provide measures of performance towards meeting the stated ecosystem management goals of the NPFMC.  These goals are to:

1. Maintain biodiversity consistent with natural evolutionary and ecological processes, including dynamic change and variability.
2. Maintain and restore habitats essential for fish and their prey.
3. Maintain system sustainability and sustainable yields for human consumption and non-extractive uses.
4. Maintain the concept that humans are components of the ecosystem.

A. Maintain diversity

1. Time series of bycatch/discard  amounts of prohibited species and non-target species and fish processing wastes in the EBS, AI, and GOA
2. Time series of amount of closed area and duration of time various species (salmon, herring, snow crab) are protected from groundfish capture fisheries
3. Time series of directed salmon and crab catch, salmon hatchery production by nation

1. Time series of the amount of area closed to bottom trawling in the EBS, AI, and GOA
2. Time series of amount of groundfish fishing effort by gear type in the EBS, AI, and GOA (segregated by inshore, offshore, and slope regions if possible)
3. Time series of state fishery closures (scallop, crab, salmon)

1. Time series of trophic level of the catch and total amount of groundfish catch (relative to total exploitable biomass) by region
2. Table summarizing status of managed groundfish, crab, and salmon species  (# stocks below target stock size, # above target stock size, # unknown). Any success measures of rebuilding programs?
3. Time series of amount of catch of protected species' prey inside critical habitat (NMFS/REFM)
4. Time series of exploitation rates by specific time/area units for fisheries with time/area quotas

1. Number and efficacy of limited entry, license, ITQ systems , changes in fishing power and fleet composition of groundfish, crab, salmon, scallop fisheries
2. Coordination of activities with other organizations

II.  ECOSYSTEM STATUS INDICATORS
A.  Physical environment

1. Time series of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation Index (PDO)
2. Time series of summer surface and bottom temperatures and the magnitude of the Bering Sea cold pool from AFSC bottom trawl survey data
3. Time series of ice extent index - EBS
4. Time series of amount of freshwater inputs - GOA

1. Indices of pollutant/contaminant levels in sediments, groundfish, and their prey (need to check availability with NOAA's National Status and Trends Program)
2. Summaries of bottom habitat composition by region

1. Abundance trends of phytoplankton and zooplankton in GOA and EBS

1. Abundance  trends of capelin in GOA (Pavlov Bay)
2. Forage species (as defined in the forage fish amendment) abundance trends in EBS
3. Forage  abundance and diversity trends inside protected species' critical habitat
4. Other forage species' abundance and trends (herring, juvenile pollock)

1. Abundance and diversity trends of benthic macroinvertebrate groups, including crab, captured in NMFS bottom trawl surveys - EBS
2. Epifauna abundance and diversity trends inside and outside protected areas
3. Abundance and diversity trends of benthic macroinvertebrate groups captured in NMFS bottom trawl surveys GOA

1. Abundance and diversity trends of non-target species in the EBS
2. Abundance and diversity trends of non-target species in the GOA and AI

1. Status and diversity trends of N. fur seals, Steller sea lions, and harbor seals
2. Status and trends of other seals and cetaceans
3. Net debris entanglement indices for northern fur seals

1. Status and diversity trends of seabirds

1. Diversity trends of groups sampled by NMFS bottom trawl surveys
2. Trophic level trends of groups sampled by NMFS bottom trawl surveys
3. Size diversity trends of groups sampled by NMFS bottom trawl surveys