From acb@kepler.unh.edu Thu Apr 4 12:04 EST 1996 Date: Thu, 4 Apr 1996 12:03:19 -0500 (EST) From: Ann C Bucklin To: Peter Wiebe , Bob Beardsley , David Mountain Cc: Ann C Bucklin , Bob Groman Subject: COP proposal Mime-Version: 1.0 Peter, Bob, and David (and Bob): Most of you know that Don Scavia has expressed interest in funding a pilot 1996 field program involving commercial fishermen and vessels. The project will be funneled trough Sea Grant Extension, which is appropriate for outreach NOAA activities. Two fishing enterprises are involved: one from Portland, ME (Craig Pendleton and F/V Susan and Caitlyn) and one out of Scituate (Bob Lane and the F/V Isabelle S. - as proposed by Chip Ryther, CR Envi., Falmouth). A VERY ROUGH PROPOSAL DRAFT follows for your comments. My target is to submit to COP by mid-April, so I would appreciate fast turnaround. Please pay particular attention to: 1) drifters: do we wnat to do this? 2) bongo net - can one be had from NMFS 3) sorting of zooplankton samples - URI or Poland? What $$? 4) archiving of data - how much will it cost? 5) CTD data - who processes? How much $$$ per cast? Is Sea Cat OK? Thank you! Ann Proposal for submission to: Dr. Donald Scavia, Director Coastal Ocean Program NOAA Headquarters Silver Spring, MD Biological and physical data collection by commercial fishermen from fishing vessels in the Gulf of Maine as part of the U.S. GLOBEC Georges Bank Study Principal Investigators: Brian Doyle, Marine Advisory Program Leader UNH/UM Sea Grant College Program University of New Hampshire Durham, NH 03824 and Peter H. Wiebe, Senior Scientist Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Woods Hole, MA 02543 Project Summary The proposed project will allow the participation of commercial fishermen and their vessels in a pilot effort to evaluate the feasibility of involving commercial vessels in an oceanographic research program. The field program is the U.S. GLOBEC Georges Bank Study. The proposed participation will involve collection of far-field biological and physical measurements, in support of the planned process studies of source, retention, and loss of water and organisms over the Bank. In addition to field measurements, it is proposed that commercial fishermen be involved in subsequent post-cruise processing, data analysis, and presentation of results to other program participants. The long-term goal of this project is to enhance communication and understanding between the academic research oceanographic community and the commercial fish harvesting community, through collaboration and full partnership in a field program of common interest. Prologue to U.S. GLOBEC Georges Bank Program - Phase II The primary objective of the U.S. GLOBEC Program is extended understanding of the physical and biological processes controlling the abundance of marine animals in time and space. Studies under the GLOBEC banner focus on early life stages and recruitment as keys to population dynamical explanation of variation in fish and zooplankton stocks. GLOBEC seeks to demonstrate the links among climatic variation, physical processes active in the sea on shorter time scales, and recruitment rates (U.S. GLOBEC, 1992). The U.S. GLOBEC program selected the Georges Bank area of the Northwest Atlantic as the first reason for intensive study. The reasons were: 1) the Georges Bank ecosystem can be expected to be highly sensitive to climatic variability since it is in a boundary region with respect to climate, ocean currents, and faunal patterns; 2) secondary production on Georges Bank supports a large, commercially valuable fishery; 3) advective transport through the region is predicted to change more with climatic variation than that in other areas of the North Atlantic; and 4) the Bank causes a distinctive, regionally closed circulation that may allow distinct, trackable populations to develop and persist for periods long enough to permit meaningful study by time-series sampling. In Phase I, we have established that the physical regime over and around Georges Bank interacts with the timing of copepod and fish biological events to produce the long observed distributional patterns of copepods, common planktonic predators and larval fish. The most important example is that newly reproductive copepods, particularly Calanus finmarchicus, emerging in January from rest in the depths of the Gulf of Maine and beginning to reproduce are drawn into a current jet along the north edge of the bank and thus concentrated. When this jet of high stock turns and slows out over the Northeast Peak a very high levels of naupliar abundance are established there, then spread all along the southern flank at the east end of the bank. Since this must recur (yet to be shown), it selects cod and haddock that spawn in the peak subregion. Currents moving from the jet at the north edge also carry copepods from the Gulf onto the top of the Bank where they prosper for a time. In May flow over the top of the Bank becomes divergent, and the fauna in shallow waters completely changes in character. In Phase II, research will again focus on target species that are key elements in the planktonic assemblages of the Georges Bank region: pelagic larval stages of codfish (Gadus morhua), haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) and the copepods (C. finmarchicus, Pseudocalanus moultoni, and P. newmani). Hypotheses concerning these species for Phase II involve retention and loss of water and animals from over and around Georges Bank. Tests of those hypotheses involve four main activities: 1) quantification of target species abundance patterns across Georges Bank and through their growing season; 2) measurement of the population dynamical vital rates of target species; 3) quantification of physical exchanges of water and biota across the boundaries of the Bank; and 4) determination of the interaction of vertical migration and vertical position maintenance behavior on retention and loss of planktonic animals on the Bank. The U.S. GLOBEC Northwest Atlantic/Georges Bank study has four major components: a Broadscale field survey, process-oriented observational and experimental studies, modelling investigations, and retrospective analyses. Broadscale field survey: This includes monthly shipboard surveys covering the bank with plankton and hydrographic stations in a clockwise grid, multi-disciplinary moorings and analysis of satellite data. Shipboard sampling will determine the distribution and abundance of the target organisms in relation to their physical environment and to flow during the larval phase of cod and haddock (January through June). Long- term moorings and satellite pictures will provide additional views of regional events. Process Studies: Process studies are nested within the broad-scale observations to investigate specific biological and physical processes. The focus in 1995 was on the influence of water column stratification on vital rates of the target species. The focus in 1997 will be on processes associated with source, retention, and loss of water and organism as they impact the population dynamics of target-species on the Bank. Modeling: Modeling studies are essential to the formulation and testing of hypotheses, to the interpretation of the data from the field studies, and to the integration of the results. Modeling studies to date have focussed on the development of 3-D models of the flow field of the Georges Bank and the surrounding regions, and linkages to the population dynamics of target species. In addition to site-specific modeling, modeling with a more regional scope is planned. Further, these efforts will incorporate more realistic biological/physical interaction and to allow for data assimilation. Retrospective Analyses: Retrospective studies of archived samples and existing data sets provide a means of investigating the biological and physical consequences of climatic variation and also allow integration, coordination, and comparison of Georges Bank data sets with those from other North Atlantic regions. These studies will continue. Introduction to the Proposed Work The proposed project will involve commercial fishermen and their fishing vessels as full partners in the U.S.GLOBEC Georges Bank Study. The proposed tasks include collection of biological and physical oceanographic data, analysis of these data, integration of the results into the scientific progress of the program, and presentation of the results at scientific investigators' meetings. These tasks will be performed by selected commercial fishermen, U.S. GLOBEC program staff, and students and technicians now associated with U.S. GLOBEC. This project is envisioned as a small, pilot effort involving only a few fishermen and their vessels. Eventually, as many as a dozen vessels may be involved. The goals of the proposed project are: 1) To make far-field measurements in a pilot project that will demonstrate feasibility of this approach for more extensive measurements in support of U.S.GLOBEC Georges Bank Study Phase II; 2) To involve commercial harvesters in an oceanographic research program, and to improve their understanding of the ecosystem dynamics of the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank, especially as they determine fisheries yields of cod and haddock; 3) To provide a forum for the commercial harvesters to impart their knowledge and understanding of the ecosystem they fish to research oceanographers who study the same system. The key points of the proposed project to involve commercial fishermen in the U.S. GLOBEC Georges Bank Program are: 1) Far-field measurements: During the Georges Bank Study field season, ending in June, 1996, we propose to collect far-field measurements that are needed but not now collected by ongoing projects. The regions targeted for these measurements are: Jordan Basin, Wilkinson Basin and Georges Basin. The proposed work will involve between 5 and 10 collections from one or all of the basins during April, May, and June. Trips of one to two days are anticipated, during which collection of oceanographic measurements will be the only use of the vessel. Trips will be scheduled on a not-to-interfere basis, when the vessels are not being used for commercial fishing. The measurements to be made include hydrographic assessments, collection of zooplankton samples, and deployment of drifters. A series of CTD profiles will be taken in each of Wilkinson, Georges, and Jordan basins. The exact design of the deployment pattern will be determined in consultation with Georges Bank Study P.I.s. The CTD will be a non-recording SeaCat. The data will be dumped to a laptop computer configured with the same software used on all U.S. GLOBEC Georges Bank Study cruises. The CTD data will be analyzed identically to all other CTD data. Zooplankton samples will be taken by integrated, oblique tow of a bongo net, with one net of 335 um mesh and another of 150 um mesh net. Oblique tows will be 200 m to the surface. These collections will be designed to be fully comparable to the bongo tows taken during the Georges Bank Study Broadscale Survey (BSS). The samples will be preserved identically to those of the BSS: the 335 um sample in formalin and the 150 um sample in 95% ethanol. The drifters to be deployed are identical to those now used by the Georges Bank Study. They will be provided by Dr. R. Beardsley (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution). ARGOS position data from the drifters will be analyzed identically to all others deployed as part of the Georges Bank Study. [Note: Do these drifters need to be retrieved?] Low-Cost Bioacoustic Drifters are currently being designed by P. Wiebe (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution). When these become available, they will also be deployed as part of this far-field measurement effort. The resultant data provide evidence of the presence or absence of zooplankton aggregations and fish schools by volume backscattering. In tandem with sea surface temperatures by satellite infrared images, this information could ultimately prove useful as a predictive tool for fisheries managment. 2. Post-cruise processing: The CTD data will be processed by xxxx. The zooplankton samples will be sorted by xxxx, similar to all other bongo net tows from the Georges Bank Study. The data will be used in the production of maps of the species' distribution and abundance, as are currently done from these collections. The drifter data will go to R. Limeburner (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) for analysis. The data (telemetered by ARGOS) will be received, processed, and the tracklines of the drogues will be accessible via the internet on the U.S. GLOBEC Georges Bank Web Site. The data resulting from the proposed measurements will be included in the Georges Bank Study database, kept at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution as part of the Program Support Office. R. Groman has primary responsibility for this database, and will include the far-field measurements identically to all other data of each type. The proposed work represents a collaboration of three entities: U.S. GLOBEC scientific investigators (funded by NSF and NOAA), the UNH/UM Sea Grant College Program, and commercial harvesters in the Northeast US. The roles of these entities in this collaboration are as follows: U.S. GLOBEC Scientific Investigators: Provide the scientific basis and rationale for the Georges Bank Study. Determine the scientific goals to met, and design the program of field measurement to meet these goals. The researchers will meet with the commercial harvesters to ensure that they understand the scientific goals of the Program, and are knowledgeable in the particular oceanographic measurements to be made. The researchers will also ensure that the data collected by fishermen are fully comparable to those collected by research vessels, so that all data can be analyzed together. U.S. GLOBEC investigators will provide students or technicians (with funding from this project) to participate in the first cruise of each vessel to ensure that the captain and crew are knowledgeable in all aspects of the planned measurements (CTD profiling, zooplankton collection, and drifter deployment) proposed. UNH/UM Sea Grant College Program (SGCP): The Marine Advisory Program of the UNH/UM SGCP will provide the liason between the academic research community and the commercial harvesting community. Outreach activities like this one are entirely consistent with the mission of the Marine Advisory Program. Sea Grant's liason role between NOAA-funded research programs and the industry target of their efforts is particularly appropriate. Sea Grant will also assist in identifying oceanographers who will provide training for vessel captains and crew in the oceanographic measurements to be performed. Commercial harvesters: The commercial harvesters who will participate in the 1996 pilot field program are vessel owners, who will use their fishing vessels and selected crew to deploy gear to make physical measurements and collect biological samples in the Gulf of Maine. The fishermen will determine the timing of their field work, probably during days between fishing trips, so that their scientific efforts do not interfere with nor add to their fishing effort. Time at sea making oceanographic measurements shall not be counted in any fishing effort. Captains will be responsible for selecting crew members who are knowledgable in the planned oceanographic techniques. Choice of participants: For the Georges Bank Study, the UNH/UM Marine Advisory Program has identified two groups of fishermen for participation in the 1996 pilot field program. These groups were chosen because: 1) they demonstrated an immediate interest in full participation in the research program, not meerly willingness to collect oceanographic data on a contract basis; 2) they work out of ports close to the identified field study areas, thus minimizing transit costs; 3) they own or have access to vessels of appropriate size and with appropriate gear for the proposed tasks; and 4) they are manned by captains and crew who are knowledgable about the groundfish industry in the targeted geographic regions. Significance of this project: This program of data collection by members of the fishing industry and their integration into the process of data analysis and interpretation could result in a new and innovative way to monitor the marine environment. BUDGET 1. Salaries 2. Equipment Bongo net 3. Supplies CTD rental (UNH) Jars and preservatives for zooplankton samples 4. Services Zooplankton sample sorting (URI or Poland?) CTD data processing (NMFS/WH?) Data archiving (WHOI) 5. Ship use F/V Susan & Caitlyn (5 days @ $1,100) 5,500. BUDGET JUSTIFICATION The SeaCat CTD will be provided by the University of New Hampshire Marine Program. Rental charges for the CTD, accompanying lap-top computer, and datadisks is xxxx. The bongo net will be purchased for this purpose from xxxx at a cost of xxxx. Drifters to be deployed will be provided by xxx.