Advancing an Ecosystem Approach in the Gulf of Maine

2012 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
Gulf Of Maine ◽  
Ecosystem Approach ◽  
Calanus Finmarchicus ◽  
Massachusetts Bay ◽  
Species Dominance ◽  
Dramatic Decline ◽  
Salinity Water ◽  
Peak Abundance ◽  
Ocean Observing

<i>Abstract</i> .—In a collaborative project with a number of New England commercial fishermen, zooplankton was sampled two to three times a month between 2003 and 2005 at the GoMOOS (Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System) Buoy “B” and between 2003 and 2008 at a station on Jeffreys Ledge in the western Gulf of Maine. Additionally, during 2007 and 2008 zooplankton and ichthyoplankton were sampled semimonthly at stations located in Massachusetts Bay and Ipswich Bay, New Hampshire. The authors report here on seasonal and interannual patterns in biomass, diversity, and abundance in the zooplankton at the Jeffreys Ledge station and in the ichthyoplankton at the Massachusetts and Ipswich Bay stations. Notable is the dominance of <i>Calanus finmarchicus </i> on Jeffreys Ledge and the dramatic decline in summer abundance of this species between 2003 and 2005, perhaps related to a shift to lower salinity water during this same period. Interannual differences in timing of peak abundance, and in species dominance of ichthyoplankton, were observed between 2007 and 2008. While these time series provide information and insight about change in the coastal planktonic communities in the western Gulf of Maine, currently there are no observing programs that sample coastal communities at frequency sufficient to show seasonal and interannual change in this region.

Advancing an Ecosystem Approach in the Gulf of Maine

2012 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
Gulf Of Maine ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Polarized Light ◽  
Ecosystem Approach ◽  
Water Bloom ◽  
Sun Compass ◽  
Fine Sediments ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Crangon Septemspinosa

<i>Abstract</i> .—Because of partial recirculation and steep bottom slopes, the Gulf of Maine (GoM) contains steep environmental gradients in both space and time. I focus, in particular, on optical properties associated with both resources and risks. The GoM estuary-shelf systems differ from those whose fine sediments are trapped behind barrier bars; in the GoM, nepheloid layers prevail over a wide range of depths, and onshore-offshore turbidity gradients at a given water depth are also steep. Turbidity reduces predation risk. Three crustacean species that are major fish forages respond to the strong environmental gradients in resources and risks by migrating seasonally both horizontally and vertically. Northern shrimp (also known as pink shrimp) <i>Pandalus borealis</i> , sevenspine bay shrimp <i>Crangon septemspinosa</i> , and the most common mysid shrimp in the GoM, <i>Neomysis americana</i> , share both stalked eyes that appear capable of detecting polarized light and statocysts. This pair of features likely confers sun-compass navigational ability, facilitating use of multiple habitats. All three species converge on a shallow-water bloom at depths <100 m of the western GoM shelf in December–March, well before the basin-wide, climatological spring bloom in April. In addition to reaching abundant food resources, I propose that they are also using optical protection, quantified as the integral of the beam attenuation coefficient from the surface to the depth that they occupy during daylight. Spring immigration into, and fall emigration from, estuaries appear to be common in GoM sevenspine bay shrimp and <i>N. americana</i> , out of phase with their populations south of New England and with turbidity differences a likely cause. Migration studies that include measurements of turbidity are needed, however, to test the strength of the effect of optical protection on habitat use by all three species. Simultaneous sampling of estuaries and the adjacent shelf, together with trace-element tracer studies, would be very useful to resolve timing and extent of mass migrations, which likely are sensitive to turbidity change resulting from climate change. These migrations present special challenges to ecosystem-based management by using so many different habitats.

scholarly journals Potential growth of pelagic juvenile cod in relation to the 1978–2006 winter–spring zooplankton on the Northeast US continental shelf

2015 ◽  
Vol 72 (9) ◽  
pp. 2549-2568 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. G. Lough ◽  
T. Kristiansen
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
New England ◽  
Gulf Of Maine ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Calanus Finmarchicus ◽  
Georges Bank ◽  
Potential Growth ◽  
Lower Growth ◽  
Centropages Typicus ◽  
Pelagic Juvenile

Abstract Environmental conditions during the pelagic juvenile cod period determine their fitness to survive settlement as demersal juveniles (0-group) and recruitment. This study examines the potential growth of pelagic juvenile cod in five areas of the New England Shelf based on time series of zooplankton and ocean temperature from surveys. An individual-based model was used to estimate the temporal variation in growth of juvenile cod at each survey station based on available prey of appropriate sized copepods of Calanus finmarchicus, Pseudocalanus spp., Centropages typicus, and Centropages hamatus. Mean juvenile cod growth was low (1–7% d−1) during January–February and March–April time series across all areas, Gulf of Maine (GOM), Eastern Georges Bank, Western Georges Bank, southern New England to Middle Atlantic Bight (MAB). Growth increased significantly in May–June with the seasonal increase in copepod density and temperature generally from South to North. The 1990–1999 warm years had the highest growth of 12–14% d−1 compared with the cooler 2000–2006 years and colder 1978–1989 years of similarly lower growth of 8–11% d−1. Growth in the MAB stayed the same 13% d−1 as in 1990–1999, whereas GOM growth decreased significantly to ∼6% d−1. High prey densities during May–June 1990–1999 for Georges Bank and GOM, followed by a strong decrease in 2000–2006 may explain the decrease in growth during the same periods. While all four copepod species contributed to potential growth, C. typicus, a more southern species, could be the more important prey for juveniles in the coastal areas during all months in contrast to Pseudocalanus spp. for the larvae. Centropages typicus also is the most adaptable and likely species able to expand and thrive under warmer climatic conditions, which could be of significance to future recruitment. Age-1 recruitment for Georges Bank cod was found to be related to juvenile growth.

Advancing an Ecosystem Approach in the Gulf of Maine

2012 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
Resource Sharing ◽  
Fishery Management ◽  
Gulf Of Maine ◽  
Ecosystem Approach ◽  
Management Plans ◽  
Federal Management ◽  
Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management ◽  
Management Council ◽  
The U.S

<i>Abstract</i>.—There is a strong desire to move toward ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) in New England. However, there are many other problems in U.S. fisheries that have prevented timely adoption of EBFM. Changes in the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, requiring catch limits for federally managed fisheries, may help speed the movement toward ecosystembased approaches to fishery management. In the meantime, the term “integrated fishery management” (IFM) is being used by the New England Fishery Management Council to mean incorporating flexibility between fishery management plans to allow, and account for, mixed catch. If IFM is going to provide a step toward EBFM, there are several actions that must be taken: (1) adequate monitoring across all fisheries must be provided, (2) flexibility across existing management plans must encourage reporting and landing rather than discarding, (3) interjurisdictional coordination within and among states and federal management bodies must improve, and (4) application of the U.S./Canada Resource Sharing Understanding must expand.

Advancing an Ecosystem Approach in the Gulf of Maine

2012 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Maine ◽  
Ecosystem Approach ◽  
Georges Bank ◽  
Current Signal ◽  
Eastern Side ◽  
Deep Layers ◽  
Western Side ◽  
Year 2000 ◽  
Ocean Observing ◽  
The U.S

<i>Abstract</i>.—Conventional wisdom, based on observations spanning two and a half decades (1975–2000), asserts that inflow to the Gulf of Maine (GoM) occurs primarily in two areas: inshore on the Scotian Shelf off Cape Sable, Nova Scotia and on the eastern side of the Northeast Channel (NEC). In particular, the monthly mean currents in the eastern NEC have shown persistent inflow at all depths and in all seasons, except for the occasional, but brief, reversals near the bottom (~200 m). Conversely, the flow on the western side of the NEC is normally directed out of the gulf in the surface layer and at mid-depth, consistent with the clockwise gyre over Georges Bank, but those currents do show relatively frequent reversals to inflow in the deeper layers (150–200 m), in sympathy with the flow on the eastern side. At some point between the year 2000, when the last Bedford Institute of Oceanography (BIO)/U.S. GLOBEC mooring was removed from the eastern NEC, and 2004, when a new mooring was placed there as part of the U.S. ocean observing array, a transformation occurred. The recent data, collected from a representative location in the eastern NEC, show a strongly seasonal current signal marked by persistent periods of outflow in the deep layers (>100 m), particularly in winter. This observation was first reported by Pettigrew et al. (2008), where the outflow currents occasionally extend to the surface layers as well, most notably in the winters of 2004–2005 and 2006–2007. Additional data and analyses reported here suggest that this new mode of behavior in the NEC currents could have important consequences for the GoM ecosystem. Possible causes for this “regime shift” in the NEC circulation and implications for the GoM deepwater nutrient fields and ecosystem are discussed.

Implementing the Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Bogden ◽  
Neal Pettigrew ◽  
Mary K. Beard ◽  
Lewis Incze ◽  
James Irish
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Maine ◽  
Ocean Observing

Breathing the “Free Aire of the New World”: The Influence of the New England Way on the Gathering of Congregational Churches in Old England, 1640–1660

2010 ◽  
Vol 83 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-46
Author(s):  
Ralph F. Young
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
New World ◽  
Massachusetts Bay ◽  
Charles I ◽  
Church Polity

Puritans in England, although engaged in the struggle against Charles I and setting up the Commonwealth under Cromwell closely watched the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay. In demonstrating how the New England Way of church polity influenced the rise of Congregationalism in England, Young details the transatlantic flow of ideas from colony to motherland.

Conflicts of Law: Reconsidering the Influence of Religion on Law in Massachusetts Bay

Numen ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Dale
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
New England ◽  
Legal System ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Single Point ◽  
Massachusetts Bay ◽  
Governing System ◽  
Practical Effect ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
Practical Impact

AbstractThe idea that there were different points of view in seventeenth century Massachusetts Bay is not a new one. Several recent studies have undermined Perry Miller's monolithic “Puritan Mind”—demonstrating there were many strands of thought even among the nominally orthodox, and suggesting that we think of the settlers in New England as members of a movement with many ideas, rather than holders of a single point of view.While the idea that there were divisions within the category of Puritan is not a new one, the extent to which that ideological pluralism had a practical impact on the Bay colony's institutions, from its families to its governing system, has not yet been explored. This paper is a preliminary effort to demonstrate how ideological pluralism led to different conceptions of law, and had a practical effect on the legal system developed in the first generation of settlement in Massachusetts Bay.

Building Bensalem at Massachusetts Bay: Francis Bacon and the Wisdom of Eden in Early Modern New England

2010 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 577-606
Author(s):  
Zachary Mcleod Hutchins
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
New England ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Jonathan Edwards ◽  
Educational Policies ◽  
Francis Bacon ◽  
Massachusetts Bay ◽  
Religious Leaders

Francis Bacon's influence on seventeenth-century New England has long passed unnoticed, but his plan for the restoration of prelapsarian intellectual perfections guided John Winthrop's initial colonization efforts, shaped New England's educational policies, and had an impact on civic and religious leaders from John Cotton to Jonathan Edwards.

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