OCEAN
OF TROUBLE
HUFFINGTON
06.23.13
CAMERON THOMPSON, UNIVERSITY OF MAINE/GULF OF MAINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Calanus finmarchicus is
a lipid-rich zooplankton
that provides crucial
nutrition for a variety of
Gulf of Maine fish species.
finmarchicus — are already at the southern extent of their range, and experts
suspect they are slowly being replaced
by species migrating up from more
temperate waters to the south. As the
numbers of precious cod mysteriously
dwindle in the gulf — possibly migrating north and westward with the Calanus — Mirachi and other fishermen are
reporting increasing numbers of shortfin squid, black sea bass, blue crab and
other species that had never been here
in appreciable numbers before.
One common response to all this is, of
course, so what? If changing ocean characteristics drive some fish away, others will
likely arrive, suggesting that dry-docked
fishermen like Mirarchi, and the fishdependent economies of which they are
a part, need only to adapt to new quarry.
The U.K.’s MCCIP noted, for example, that
rising populations of sea bass, red mullet,
anchovy, octopus and squid, among other
species, could represent new opportunities for British fishermen.
But Jake Kritzer, a senior scientist
with the Environmental Defense Fund
who also serves on the New England
Fishery Management Council’s science
and statistical committee, suggests it’s
not that simple. “Just because we’ve
seen some black sea bass in the Gulf of
Maine doesn’t mean we’re going to have
a viable black sea bass stock in the Gulf
of Maine anytime soon, and therefore
that we can write off cod and just shift
our attention over there,” Kritzer says.
“And even if it does, in order for it to be
sustainable, we still need to understand
the stock dynamics of black sea bass in
the Gulf of Maine, which is something