Oceanographic influences on Pacific hake (Merluccius productus) distribution and biology ...

• Main Author: Benson, Ashleen Julia
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2009
• Subjects: Bering Sea
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0052685; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0052685

There are persistent decadal scale states in atmosphere-ocean conditions that are called regimes, and a shift from one set of stable conditions to another is called a regime shift. Regime shifts have been identified in 1925, 1947, 1977, 1989, and possibly 1998. In recent years, a substantial amount of effort has been directed at understanding the effects of regime shifts on fish populations. A synthesis of the available information for the eastern North Pacific and Bering Sea is presented in Chapter 1. What is most evident from the review is that pelagic fish exhibit the most dramatic responses to changes in climate-ocean conditions. Pacific hake (Merluccius productus) is the most abundant pelagic fish species in the California Current ecosystem, and is important both commercially and in terms of its large predatory biomass. A review of the life history and ecology of hake is presented in Chapter 2. Hake is a widely distributed species that migrates seasonally between winter spawning grounds off California ...