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upcoming events

  • 1 August: Abstracts due for Eastern Pacific Ocean Conference (EPOC) 22-25 September, 2010.
  • 5 August:  PI teleconference
  • 17 August: SAB teleconference
  • 30 November: deadline for manuscript submission to first BEST-BSIERP special
    issue

For more information about upcoming events, or if you'd like to add a relevant event, please contact Tom Van Pelt.

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Welcome to the
Bering Sea Project

Forage fish surveys show re-distribution of pollock, capelin

The combination of acoustics, trawling, and oceanography gives us a powerful tool to see where fish travel in an ever-changing ocean. We can interpret these changes in the context of the overall Bering Sea Project, which seeks to understand the mechanisms creating and sustaining life in the Bering Sea.

pollock and capelin distribution, 2008 and 2009Bering Sea Project oceanographers have classified 2008 as a "cold" year and 2009 as a "colder" year in the Bering Sea. Rapid changes seem to be occurring in the Bering Sea: in 2008, most of young pollock preferred the top 30m of the water column, and capelin were scarce throughout the study region.

capelin distributionBy 2009, pollock had abandoned the near-surface waters in favor of waters near the bottom (>80m depth), and capelin occupied the upper 30m of the water column in larger, more distinctive groups.

Figure 1 shows pollock distribution; Figure 2 shows capelin distribution. Click each image for a larger version.

Fish distribution matters to what eats them

Fish swim where they like to swim. This affects not just the fish themselves -- young pollock's shift to deeper water puts them closer to their predators -- but the availability of a meal for surface or shallow-diving predators like black-legged kittiwakes. And we expect 2010, predicted to be a "coldest" year, to be much like 2009.

For more information

Richard ChewningTeachers assist with summer pollock surveys

Educators from NOAA's Teacher at Sea (TAS) program are assisting Bering Sea Project scientists with the acoustic pollock survey in the Bering Sea and are blogging about life aboard the ship. Learn more about the pollock, the surveys, and the teachers.

TRACK THE OSCAR DYSON: Mapped position and meteorological data are updated a few times per day at this page.

Ressler and Sigler deliver Bering Sea Project talks

Following their cruise aboard the NOAA Oscar Dyson, Patrick Ressler and Mike Sigler made presentations at the Museum of the Aleutians on June 24. The evening event was well attended by 30-40 people who took this opportunity to hear and ask questions about what science tells us is happening there now, and what changes may come in the future.

They repeated their presentations the following morning at the Unisea processing plant for pollock vessel captains and company staff the following morning. Mike described the Bering Sea Project, taking a pollock-centric approach because of the importance of the pollock fishery to Dutch Harbor. Patrick described the NOAA acoustic and bottom trawl surveys conducted in the southeastern Bering Sea and their role in the Bering Sea Project.

Thanks to Reid Brewer and Don Graves for organizing the events.

Take-home messages from Sigler and Ressler
Mike Sigler presentation (PDF) Patrick Ressler presentation (PDF)
  • The Northern Bering Sea will remain ice covered and cold.
  • Overwinter survival of age-0 pollock is low in warm years.
  • We forecast reduced pollock abundance by 2050.
  • Seabirds shift foraging locations in response to juvenile pollock abundance.
  • Bottom trawl and acoustic surveys are needed to understand pollock distribution in summer.
  • Pollock don't like very cold water, so temperature affects where they are found.
  • Pollock and euphausiids have a predator-prey relationship in space and time. They may not respond in exactly the same way to temperature changes in the Bering Sea.
  • The distribution of fish communities dominated by pollock is limited by cold water, while euphausiid populations are not.
  • Fish can be abundant in the marginal ice zone when water temperature is not limiting.
  • Distributional shifts in fish populations from spring to summer are to the north-west, with the largest shift occurring in the northern part of the population.

Bering Sea Project at a Glance 2010About the Bering Sea Project

The Bering Sea Project, a $52 million partnership between the North Pacific Research Board and the National Science Foundation, seeks to understand the impacts of climate change and dynamic sea ice cover on the eastern Bering Sea ecosystem.

More than one hundred scientists are engaged in field research and ecosystem modeling to link climate, physical oceanography, plankton, fishes, seabirds, marine mammals, humans, traditional knowledge and economic outcomes to better understand the mechanisms that sustain this highly productive region.

The Bering Sea Project is a collaborative team effort, led by an elected group of six scientists working together with NPRB and NSF program managers. We invite you to explore this website to learn more about the Bering Sea Project's hypotheses, focal areas of study, integrated goals, participants, and ecological and social context.

Our recently-updated Bering Sea Project "at-a-glance" brochure introduces and explains the program. Download (PDF) or contact us for a hard copy.