Fisheries oceanography is the study of ecological relationships between fishes and the dynamics of their marine environments and aims to characterize the physical, chemical, and biological factors that affect the recruitment and abundance of harvested species. A recent push within the fisheries management community is toward ecosystem-based management. Here, we show how physical and biological oceanography data can be used to generate indicators of ocean conditions in an ecosystem context, and how these indicators relate to the recruitment of salmonids, sablefish, sardines, and rockfish in the California Current.

Peterson, W.T., J.L. Fisher, J.O. Peterson, C.A. Morgan, B.J. Burke, and K.L. Fresh. 2014. Applied fisheries oceanography: Ecosystem indicators of ocean conditions inform fisheries management in the California Current. Oceanography 27(4):80–89, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2014.88.

Batchelder, H.P., K.L. Daly, C.S. Davis, R. Ji, M.D. Ohman, W.T. Peterson, and J.A. Runge. 2013. Climate impacts on zooplankton population dynamics in coastal marine ecosystems. Oceanography 26(4):34–51, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2013.74.
1. Bi, H., W.T. Peterson, J. Lamb, and E. Casillas. 2011. Copepods and salmon: Characterizing the spatial distribution of juvenile salmon along the Washington and Oregon coast, USA. Fisheries Oceanography 20:125–138, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2419.2011.00573.x.
2. Bjorkstedt, E., R. Goericke, S. McClatchie, E. Weber, W. Watson, N. Lo, W.T. Peterson, R.D. Brodeur, T. Auth, J. Fisher, and others. 2012. State of the California Current 2011–2012: Ecosystems respond to local forcing as La Niña wavers and wanes. California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations Reports 50:41–78.
3. Black, B.A., I.D. Schroeder, W.J. Sydeman, S.J. Bograd, B.K. Wells, and F.B. Schwing. 2011. Winter and summer upwelling modes and their biological importance in the California Current Ecosystem. Global Change Biology 17:2,536–2,545, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2011.02422.x.
4. Black, B.A., W.J. Sydeman, D.C. Frank, D.W. Stahle, M. Garcia-Reyes, R.R. Rykaczewski, S.J. Bograd, and W.T. Peterson. In press. Of fish, seabirds and trees: Rising variability in a coupled marine-terrestrial ecosystem. Science.
5. Bograd, S.J., I. Schroeder, N. Sarkar, X. Qiu, W.J. Sydeman, and F.B. Schwing. 2009. Phenology of coastal upwelling in the California Current. Geophysical Research Letters 36, L01602, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008GL035933.
6. Burke, B.J., W.T. Peterson, B.R. Beckman, C. Morgan, E.A. Daly, and M. Litz. 2013. Multivariate models of adult Pacific Salmon returns. PLOS ONE 8(1):e54134, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0054134.
7. Chelton, D.B., and R.E. Davis. 1982. Monthly mean sea-level variability along the west coast of North America. Journal of Physical Oceanography 12:757–784, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0485(1982)012<0757:MMSLVA>2.0.CO;2.
8. Chelton, D.B., R.E. Davis, P.A. Bernal, and J.A. McGowan. 1982. Large-scale interannual physical and biological interaction in the California Current. Journal of Marine Research 40:1,095–1,125.
9. Chhak, K.C., E. Di Lorenzo, N. Schneider, and P.F. Cummins. 2009. Forcing of low-frequency ocean variability in the Northeast Pacific. Journal of Climate 22:1,255–1,276, https://doi.org/10.1175/2008JCLI2639.1.
10. Cook, R.D. 1979. Influential observations in linear regression. Journal of the American Statistical Association 74:169–174, https://doi.org/10.2307/2286747.
11. Daly, E., T. Auth, R. Brodeur, and W. Peterson. 2013. Winter ichthyoplankton biomass as a predictor of early summer prey fields and survival of juvenile salmon in the northern California Current. Marine Ecology Progress Series 484:203–217, https://doi.org/10.3354/meps10320.
12. Di Lorenzo, E., V. Combes, J.E. Keister, P.T. Strub, A.C. Thomas, P.J.S. Franks, M.D. Ohman, J.C. Furtado, A. Bracco, S.J. Bograd, and others. 2013. Synthesis of Pacific Ocean climate and ecosystem dynamics. Oceanography 26(4):68–81, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2013.76.
13. Emmett, R.L., R.D. Brodeur, and P.M. Orton. 2004. The vertical distribution of juvenile salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) and associated fishes in the Columbia River plume. Fisheries Oceanography 13:392–402, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2419.2004.00294.x.
14. Hare, S.R., and R.C. Francis. 1995. Climate change and salmon production in the Northeast Pacific Ocean. Pp. 357–372 in Climate Change and Northern Fish Populations. R.J Beamish, ed., Canadian Special Publication of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 121.
15. Hooff, R.C., and W.T. Peterson. 2006. Copepod biodiversity as an indicator of changes in ocean and climate conditions of the northern California current ecosystem. Limnology and Oceanography 51:2,604–2,620, https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.2006.51.6.2607.
16. Keister, J.E., E. Di Lorenzo, C.A. Morgan, V. Combes, and W.T. Peterson. 2011. Zooplankton species composition is linked to ocean transport in the northern California Current. Global Change Biology 17:2,498–2,511, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2010.02383.x.
17. Lamb, J. 2011. Comparing the hydrography and copepod community structure of the continental shelf ecosystems of Washington and Oregon, USA from 1998 to 2009: Can a single transect serve as an index of ocean conditions over a broader area? MS Thesis, Oregon State University.
18. Lee, R.F., W. Hagen, and G. Kattner. 2006. Lipid storage in marine zooplankton. Marine Ecology Progress Series 307:273–306, https://doi.org/10.3354/meps307273.
19. Laidig, T.E. 2010. Influence of ocean conditions on the timing of early life history events for blue rockfish (Sebastes mystinus) off California. Fishery Bulletin 108:442–449, http://fishbull.noaa.gov/ 1084/laidig.pdf.
20. Mackas, D.L., W.T. Peterson, M.D. Ohman, and B.E. Lavaniegos. 2006. Zooplankton anomalies in the California Current system before and during the warm ocean conditions of 2005. Geophysical Research Letters 33, L22S07, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006GL027930.
21. Mackas, D.L., S. Batten, and M. Trudel. 2007. Effects on zooplankton of a warmer ocean: Recent evidence from the Northeast Pacific. Progress in Oceanography 75:223–252, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2007.08.010.
22. Mantua, N.J., S.R. Hare, Y. Zhang, J.M. Wallace, and R.C. Francis. 1997. A Pacific interdecadal climate oscillation with impacts on salmon production. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 78:1,069–1,079, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(1997)078<1069:APICOW>2.0.CO;2.
23. McFarlane, G.A., and R.J. Beamish. 1992. Climatic influence linking copepod production with strong year-class in sablefish, Anoplopoma fimbria. Canadian Journal of Aquatic Sciences 49:743–753, https://doi.org/10.1139/f92-083.
24. McGowan, J.A., D.R. Cayan, and L.M. Dorman. 1998. Climate-ocean variability and ecosystem response in the Northeast Pacific. Science 281:210–217, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.281.5374.210.
25. McClatchie, S. 2014. Regional Fisheries Oceano-graphy of the California Current System. Springer, 235 pp.
26. Pearcy, W.G. 1992. Ocean Ecology of North Pacific Salmonids. University of Washington Press, Seattle, WA, 179 pp.
27. Peterman, R.M., and M.J. Bradford. 1987. Wind speed and mortality rate of a marine fish, the northern anchovy (Engraulis mordax). Science 235:354–356, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.235.4786.354.
28. Peterson, W.T., and C.B. Miller. 1977. Seasonal cycle of zooplankton abundance and species composition along the central Oregon coast. Fishery Bulletin 75:717–724, http://fishbull.noaa.gov/75-4/peterson.pdf.
29. Peterson, W.T., and F.B. Schwing. 2003. A new climate regime in Northeast Pacific ecosystems. Geophysical Research Letters 30, 1896, https://doi.org/10.1029/2003GL017528.
30. Ralston, S., K.M. Sakuma, and J.C. Field. 2013. Interannual variation in pelagic juvenile rockfish (Sebastes spp.) abundance: Going with the flow. Fisheries Oceanography 22:288–308, https://doi.org/10.1111/fog.12022.
31. Roy, C., P. Cury, and S. Kifani. 1992. Pelagic fish recruitment success and reproductive strategy in upwelling areas: Environmental compromises. South African Journal of Marine Science 12:135–146, https://doi.org/10.2989/02577619209504697.
32. Rupp, D.E., T.C. Wainwright, P.W. Lawson, and W.T. Peterson. 2012. Marine environment-based forecasting of Oregon coastal natural coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) adult recruitment. Fisheries Oceanography 21:1–19, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2419.2011.00605.x.
33. Wyllie Echeverria, T. 1987. Thirty-four species of California rockfishes: Maturity and seasonality of reproduction. Fishery Bulletin 85:229–250, https://swfsc.noaa.gov/publications/CR/1987/8782.PDF.
34. Yokomizo, H., L. Botsford, M. Holland, C. Lawrence, and A. Hastings. 2010. Optimal wind patterns for biological production in shelf ecosystems driven by coastal upwelling. Theoretical Ecology 3:53–63, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12080-009-0053-5.

This is an open access article made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format as long as users cite the materials appropriately, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate the changes that were made to the original content. Images, animations, videos, or other third-party material used in articles are included in the Creative Commons license unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If the material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission directly from the license holder to reproduce the material.