About This Project

Rockfish are important fishery species on the U.S. West coast. Many rockfish species were overfished in the 1980s, but management actions are rebuilding their stocks. Climate change threatens to dramatically alter the ocean ecosystems rockfishes inhabit and may reverse the efforts managers have made to protect these fishes. It is important to understand how changes in ocean conditions will affect the most vulnerable stages of rockfish to predict how their populations will fare in the future.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Climate change will impact our ocean in a myriad of ways. In order to understand how climate change will affect marine organisms, it is critical that we understand how current ocean conditions affect the species we want to protect for the future. By linking oceanography to rockfish growth, diet, and mortality, we can improve our understanding of why rockfish recruitment is highly variable and better predict rockfish recruitment variability in the face of climate change.

What is the significance of this project?

This research project will examine how oceanographic conditions affect the growth, diets, and selective mortality of Oregon rockfishes. Tracking how oceanographic conditions change from year to year and examining the impacts different conditions have on rockfish growth and diet will allow for a better understanding of the high mortality of young rockfish. This knowledge will improve our understanding of rockfish recruitment dynamics and allow us to predict how climate change will affect their recruitment thus improve our ability to effectively manage these species in the future.

What are the goals of the project?

I plan to examine the influence of oceanographic conditions on the growth, diet, and recruitment of young rockfish. Examining the effect of oceanographic conditions on young rockfish growth and survival will require collections of larvae, pelagic juveniles, and settled recruits. I will collect these fish from June to August of this year. My goal is to collect 300 newly settled rockfish and use their otoliths (ear stones) to estimate their age and daily growth rates. The growth rates of these 300 fish will be compared to the growth rates of pre-settled, and pelagic juveniles of the same cohort to examine patterns of survival.