Linking fisheries research to oceanography and climate change research

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Management authorities throughout the world are gradually moving toward ecosystem-based management of fisheries. It is clear that ecosystem modeling has a clear contribution to make as part of this move, and clear attention needs to be devoted to ensure that the scientific foundation on which we base the modeling is solid. This proposed activity aims to help improving the foundation through targeted, supportive research.A majority of the current ecosystem modeling activities in support of an ecosystem approach to fisheries are based on the Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) approach and software system developed at the Fisheries Centre of the University of British Columbia.The perhaps most important findings from recent ecosystem modeling are that signals from changes in system productivity (nutrient loading or primary productivity) can be picked up at all trophic levels and that variation in productivity may be amplified through the food web rather than dampened as usually assumed. While this finding is important through its linking of oceanography to fisheries management as well as to biodiversity research, it also opens for at least two important lines of research questions, both of which it is only now possible to consider embarking due to the recent progress in using ecosystem modeling for fisheries management:a. What are the mechanisms that for some species cause variation in primary production to be amplified through the food web? Is it a general feature that may be explained through physiological processes? If so, why does it not apply to all species, is this a consequence of specific characteristics of the food web structure?b. Noting that environmental variation has marked impact on the exploited, upper part of the food web, how may climate change impact biodiversity and future food productivity from the oceans? How are various species likely to be impacted, and what may the consequences be for the Pacific Northwest?