Biological response in a changing ocean environment in Newfoundland waters during the latter decades of the 1900s ...

• Main Authors: Colbourne, Eugene B., Anderson, John T.
• Format: Report
• Language: unknown
• Published: ICES MSS Vol.219 - Hydrobiological variability in the ICES Area, 1990-1999 2023
• Subjects: Ecosystem observation, processes and dynamics; Atlantic, Northwest FAO area 21; Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17895/ices.pub.19271786; https://ices-library.figshare.com/articles/report/Biological_response_in_a_changing_ocean_environment_in_Newfoundland_waters_during_the_latter_decades_of_the_1900s/19271786

Ocean temperatures on the Newfoundland Shelf during the past several decades have experienced near-decadal oscillations superimposed on a general downward trend. In particular, the decade of the 1990s has experienced some of the most significant variations since measurements began during the mid-1940s. Ocean temperatures, for example, have ranged from record low values during 1991 to record highs during 1999 in many areas, particularly on the Grand Bank of Newfoundland. Coincident with the trends in ocean climate many commercial fish species have shown changes in abundance, particularly during the decade of the 1990s. Recruitment in Newfoundland cod stocks, for example, has declined almost steadily since the 1960s, reaching historical low values by the early 1990s. During the cold early 1990s, with fishing moratoria in place, recruitment continued to decline. However, by 1995, ocean temperatures began to warm and the pelagic ecosystem responded, with the biomass of invertebrate zooplankton increasing by a ...