Ichthyoplankton Data - Coastwide Cooperative Pre-recruit Survey

The Pre-recruit survey project is collaborative involving researchers from the FE Division based in 3 laboratories (Newport, Seattle and Hammond), scientists from the Southwest Fisheries Science Center (Santa Cruz), along with researchers from several universities (Oregon State University, University of Oregon, University of Washington, University of California, Santa Cruz). In concert with a similar SWFSC survey effort through California, the purpose of this project is to conduct annual surveys within the coastal ecosystem off Oregon and Washington to quantify the environmental conditions and biota found along the California Current and to elucidate ecosystem-level processes affecting managed and protected marine resources.

This project currently supports three main efforts:

1. An annual sampling regime of the hydrology, plankton, small fish, and predators along transects over the Continental Shelf from Oregon and Washington. This consistent survey has generated significant information on within- and between-year variability in the California Current Marine Ecosystem and has yielded valuable insights into the food web off our coast.

2. Collection of specimens for diet analysis, growth, containment load, and other studies related to the ecology and production of commercially important taxa and their relationships within the food web.

3. Parameters and ecological processes quantified during this effort are used in forecasts involving species, assemblages, and ecosystems and also to parameterize ecosystem models used to evaluate cumulative risks and managerial strategies.
   We towed a 71 cm diameter Bongo net at each trawl station from 100 m to the surface.