Grant: Strategic Projects - Group

The proposed research project aims to generate a new generation of observational and modeling tools to quantify fisheries production and CO2 uptake capacity in the Subarctic Pacific Ocean. Using sea-going instrumentation deployed on research cruises around Vancouver Island and into the off-shore Subarctic Pacific, we will characterize a suite of variables relating to marine environmental conditions and biological productivity. These field-based observations will then be used to generate satellite-based models quantifying ecosystem productivity and its response to various environmental perturbations. Output from these satellite models will be used, in conjunction with fisheries data, to examine linkages between fish yields and environmental variability. In particular, we seek to understand the potential impacts of climate change and human induced disturbances on ecosystem dynamics, CO2 uptake capacity and fish biomass. The work will represent a strategic partnership between university based scientists and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and the scientific results of this project will significantly increase the accuracy of fisheries stock assessments, leading to enhanced ecosystem-based management and enforcement of currently existing regulatory mechanisms concerning ocean fertilization activities.