A climate index for the Newfoundland and Labrador shelf

Cyr, Frédéric; Galbraith, Peter S.

doi:10.5194/essd-13-1807-2021

Cited by 22 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 21 publications

(16 reference statements)

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“…Indeed, 55% of interviewees that shared knowledge about deep-water spawning also noted shifts between beach and deep-water habitat use among years and 94% of these interviewees stated temperature was the primary factor causing these shifts. However, as water temperatures were similar during 2018 and 2019, and were warmer relative to the local long-term average (Cyr and Galbraith, 2021;DFO, 2021), we would expect extensive use of deep-water spawning sites because beaches may have been too warm (≥ 12°C) later in the summer. Therefore, temperature was likely not a limiting factor for detecting deep-water spawning sites in our study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using fishers’ knowledge to determine the spatial extent of deep-water spawning of capelin (Mallotus villosus) in Newfoundland, Canada

Bliss

Dawe²,

Carruthers³

et al. 2023

Front. Mar. Sci.

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IntroductionOn the Newfoundland-Labrador Shelf, Canada, capelin (Mallotus villosus) is a key forage fish that migrates annually from offshore to spawn within coastal embayments. Although capelin are thought to primarily spawn on beaches in this region, they also spawn subtidally in deeper water (5–40 m), where their eggs remain throughout incubation. The spatial extent of subtidal (i.e. “deep-water”) spawning habitat in coastal Newfoundland is unknown and is a research priority for fishers and management.MethodsWe collaborated with capelin fishers to identify putative deep-water spawning sites as a first step in determining the contribution of deep-water spawning to capelin recruitment. Given limited fine-scale coastal bathymetry and seabed habitat type data, which impeded spatial modeling to determine suitable capelin spawning habitat, this science-industry research collaboration was key to addressing this knowledge gap.ResultsThrough two years of multi-bay fisher interviews, 84% of interviewed fishers (56 interviewees) reported having observed deep-water spawning and identified a broad distribution of putative spawning sites throughout coastal Newfoundland. The majority of fishers indicated inter-annual variation in beach and deep-water spawning habitat use, and most interviewees linked this variation to temperature and capelin abundance. Further collaborations with fishers during boat-based surveys, we sampled 136 unique sites within 12 search areas in eastern Placentia Bay and 26 unique sites within six search areas in Bonavista Bay. Underwater video surveys combined with sediment sampling revealed seven previously undocumented deep-water spawning sites.ConclusionThe deep-water spawning areas derived from these fisher interviews can now be used to build a time series for monitoring capelin spawning habitat use alongside citizen-based beach monitoring data, as a general capelin stock health indicator in a weight of evidence approach for the science advisory process.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using fishers’ knowledge to determine the spatial extent of deep-water spawning of capelin (Mallotus villosus) in Newfoundland, Canada

Bliss

Dawe²,

Carruthers³

et al. 2023

Front. Mar. Sci.

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“…We considered including the role of (1) climatic variability on habitat availability and predator–prey overlap using the Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) climate index (NLCI; Cyr & Galbraith, 2021), mean normalized anomalies of the spring bottom‐water temperature derived from multiple data sources (Cyr et al., 2021), and the mean normalized anomalies of the summer cold‐intermediate layer (CIL) area over hydrographic sections on the NL shelf (Cyr & Galbraith, 2021), (2) prey availability using a time series of capelin biomass (Koen‐Alonso et al., 2021) and northern sand lance abundance (Robertson, Koen‐Alonso, et al., 2022) and (3) a potential competitor for food and habitat, thorny skate using a survey time series of estimated biomass for this species (Simpson et al., 2018).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To illustrate the modelling framework, we applied it to assess the population and ecosystem processes that affected the differential recovery of two flatfish populations on the Newfoundland Grand Banks (Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization [NAFO] Divisions 3LNO) over the past three decades. In response to prolonged intense fishing pressure and a period of anomalous environmental conditions (e.g., record low temperatures; Cyr & Galbraith, 2021), fish community biomass on the Newfoundland Grand Banks collapsed in the early 1990s (Dempsey et al., 2017). Since this collapse, yellowtail flounder ( Limanda ferruginea , Pleuronectidae) has recovered while American plaice ( Hippoglossoides platessoides , Pleuronectidae) has remained at a low population level.…”

Section: Grand Bank Applicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing models of increasing complexity to develop ecosystem‐informed fisheries advice

Robertson,

Cadigan,

Regular

et al. 2024

Fish and Fisheries

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Despite continued calls for the application of ecosystem‐based fisheries management, tactical fisheries management continues to be heavily reliant on single‐species stock assessments. These stock assessments rarely quantitatively integrate the effects of ecosystem processes on fish stock productivity. This lack of integration is ultimately driven by the complexity of interactions between populations, ecosystems and fisheries, which produces uncertainty when defining which processes to include and how to include them. Models developed using a structured hypothesis testing framework would allow formalizing uncertainties while underscoring the importance of incorporating different population and ecosystem processes to explain non‐stationary stock productivity. Here, we develop a conceptual framework for extending and comparing population dynamics models of increasing complexity. We illustrate the utility of the framework by investigating the population and ecosystem processes that most likely affected the differential recovery of two flatfish populations (American plaice and yellowtail flounder) on the Newfoundland Grand Banks over the past three decades. We found that yellowtail flounder population dynamics were primarily driven by recruitment variability, which was negatively affected by warmer climatological conditions, as indicated by an integrated regional climate index. Meanwhile, American plaice population dynamics were affected by a combination of temporal variability in recruitment and natural mortality, where natural mortality increased during colder than average conditions. By exploring hypotheses about the effects of population and ecosystem processes on population dynamics, this modelling framework will improve understanding about the drivers of shifts in population productivity while serving as a transparent and robust approach to support ecosystem‐based fisheries management.

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“…Largest TA values, reaching nearly as high as reach 2400 µmol kg −1 , are found within the upper 150 m of the southern NL and Scotian slope waters. Following the seasonal cycle of salinity, TA generally decreases from spring to summer/fall on the NL/Scotian Shelves, reflecting respectively the continued freshening of the NL coast (Cyr and Galbraith, 2021) and the freshwater export from the LSLE exiting the Gulf of St. Lawrence at Cabot Strait (Dever et al, 2016). Although the TA of the Atlantic Zone bottom waters follows a similar spatial pattern as the surface, the values are higher and the range is much narrower (Figure 7b).…”

Section: Total Alkalinitymentioning

confidence: 95%

Spatiotemporal variability of pH and carbonate parameters on the Canadian Atlantic Continental Shelf between 2014 and 2020

Gibb

Cyr²,

Azetsu-Scott³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Abstract. The Atlantic Zone Monitoring Program (AZMP) was established by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) in 1998 with the aim of monitoring physical and biological ocean conditions in Atlantic Canada in support of fisheries management. Since 2014, at least two of the carbonate parameters (pH, Total Alkalinity - TA, Dissolved Inorganic Carbon - DIC) have also been systematically measured as part of the AZMP, enabling the calculation of derived parameters (e.g., carbonate saturation states - Ω, partial pressure of CO2 - pCO2, etc.). The present study gives an overview of the spatiotemporal variability of these parameters between 2014 and 2020. Results show that the variability of carbonate parameters reflects changes in both physical (e.g., temperature, salinity) and biological (e.g., plankton photosynthesis and respiration) parameters. For example, most of the region undergoes a seasonal warming and freshening. While the former will tend to increase Ω, the latter will decrease both TA and Ω. Spring and summer plankton blooms decrease DIC near the surface and then remineralize and increase DIC at depth in the fall. The lowest pCO2 values are located in the cold Coastal Labrador Current and the highest in the fresh waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the St. Lawrence Estuary. The latter is also the host of the lowest pH values of the zone. Finally, most of the bottom waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence are undersaturated with respect to aragonite (Ωarg<1). In addition to providing a baseline of carbonate parameters of the Atlantic Zone as a whole, this comprehensive overview is a necessary and useful contribution for the modeling community and for more in-depth studies. The full data set of measured and derived parameters is available in the Federated Research Data Repository at https://doi.org/10.20383/102.0673.

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A climate index for the Newfoundland and Labrador shelf

Cited by 22 publications

References 21 publications

Using fishers’ knowledge to determine the spatial extent of deep-water spawning of capelin (Mallotus villosus) in Newfoundland, Canada

Using fishers’ knowledge to determine the spatial extent of deep-water spawning of capelin (Mallotus villosus) in Newfoundland, Canada

Testing models of increasing complexity to develop ecosystem‐informed fisheries advice

Spatiotemporal variability of pH and carbonate parameters on the Canadian Atlantic Continental Shelf between 2014 and 2020

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