Shrnutí

Popis

This ongoing collaborative project with Oregon State University investigators focuses on three different fish early-life assemblages in Oregon coastal waters, including the planktonic (ichthyoplankton), the nektonic (pelagic juveniles), and the benthic/demersal (settled juveniles) assemblages. For each assemblage, we are investigating patterns in vertical (only for ichthyoplankton) and horizontal distribution, diet, feeding level and body condition, and escape response (only juvenile demersal flatfish) in relation to oxygen concentration as well as other co-located and potentially influencing environmental variables (i.e., depth, temperature, salinity, chlorophyll, and sediment type for the benthic and demersal assemblages). In 2012, the NWFSC expanded this project to include a fishing vessel-based survey of young-of-the-year (YOY) groundfishes along the Newport Hydrographic Line synoptically with the NWFSC's Zooplankton Labs plankton/physical oceanography sampling program.