Satellite Observations Are Needed to Understand Ocean Acidification and Multi-Stressor Impacts on Fish Stocks in a Changing Arctic Ocean

Abstract

It is widely projected that under future climate scenarios the economic importance of Arctic Ocean fish stocks will increase. The Arctic Ocean is especially vulnerable to ocean acidification and already experiences low pH levels not projected to occur on a global scale until 2100. This paper outlines how ocean acidification must be considered with other potential stressors to accurately predict movement of fish stocks toward, and within, the Arctic and to inform future fish stock management strategies. First, we review the literature on ocean acidification impacts on fish, next we identify the main obstacles that currently preclude ocean acidification from Arctic fish stock projections. Finally, we provide a roadmap to describe how satellite observations can be used to address these gaps: improve knowledge, inform experimental studies, provide regional assessments of vulnerabilities, and implement appropriate management strategies. This roadmap sets out three inter-linked research priorities: (1) Establish organisms and ecosystem physiochemical baselines by increasing the coverage of Arctic physicochemical observations in both space and time; (2) Understand the variability of all stressors in space and time; (3) Map life histories and fish stocks against satellite-derived observations of stressors.

Observing Temporally Varying Synoptic‐Scale Total Alkalinity and Dissolved Inorganic Carbon in the Arctic Ocean

“…The Arctic Ocean was separated into six biogeochemical regions based on previous work by Carmack and Wassmann (2006) and following Findlay et al (2015) and as guided by Green et al (2021) giving: the inflow shelves of the Atlantic influenced seas (AiS) and Pacific influenced seas (PiS); the river influenced seas (RiS) can be separated into two areas: the east Arctic along the Siberian coast (RiS_S) which encompasses: Kara Sea; Laptev Sea; East Siberian Sea, and then the Beaufort Sea (RiS_B); the CA; and the outflow shelves (OFS) of the Canadian Arctic and East Greenland (Figure 1).…”

“…Collectively, these complex interactions and varying conditions result in changes in carbonate chemistry within Arctic waters that are highly regionally and temporally dependent and not well characterized, so effective monitoring is critical. Understanding and quantifying how the carbonate chemistry is changing in the Arctic Ocean will better inform the scientific community on how ecosystems, habitats, and species may be impacted by OA (Green et al., 2021).…”