The NOAA IR serves as an archival repository of NOAA-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, guidelines, recommendations, or other information authored or co-authored by NOAA or funded partners.
As a repository, the NOAA IR retains documents in their original published format to ensure public access to scientific information.
i
Stage-specific drivers of Pacific hake (Merluccius productus) recruitment in the California Current Ecosystem
-
2023
-
-
Source: Fisheries Oceanography 2023;32:352–389
[PDF-4.18 MB]
Details:
-
Journal Title:Fisheries Oceanography
-
Personal Author:
-
NOAA Program & Office:
-
Description:Understanding environmental drivers of recruitment variability in marine fishes remains an important challenge in fish ecology and fisheries management. We developed a conceptual life-history model for Pacific hake (Merluccius productus) along the west coast of the United States and Canada to generate stage-specific and spatiotemporally-specific hypotheses regarding the oceanographic and biological variables that likely influence their recruitment. Our model included seven life stages from pre-spawning female conditioning through pelagic juvenile recruitment (age-0 fish) for the coastal Pacific hake stock. Model-estimated log recruitment deviations from the 2020 hake assessment were used as the dependent variable, with predictor variables drawn primarily from a regional ocean reanalysis for the California Current Ecosystem. Indices of prey and predator abundance were also included in our analysis, as were predictors of local- and basin-scale climate. Five variables explained 59% of the recruitment variability not accounted for by the stock–recruitment relationship in the hake assessment. Recruitment deviations were negatively correlated with May–September eddy kinetic energy between 34.5° and 42.5°N, the North Pacific Current Bifurcation Index, and Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) biomass during the spawner preconditioning stage, alongshore transport during the yolk-sac larval stage, and the number of days between storm events during the first-feeding larval stage. Other important predictors included upwelling strength during the preconditioning stage, the number of calm periods during the first-feeding larval stage, and age-1 hake predation on age-0 pelagic juveniles. These findings suggest that multiple mechanisms affect Pacific hake survival across different life stages, leading to variability in population-level recruitment.
-
Keywords:
-
Source:Fisheries Oceanography 2023;32:352–389
-
DOI:
-
Format:
-
Document Type:
-
Rights Information:Accepted Manuscript
-
Compliance:Submitted
-
Main Document Checksum:
-
Download URL:
-
File Type:
