State of the Physical, Biological and Selected Fishery Resources of Pacific Canadian Marine Ecosystems in 2021

Jennifer L. Boldt, Elizabeth Joyce, Strahan Tucker, and Stéphane Gauthier (Editors)

Abstract

The physical oceanography of Pacific Canadian marine ecosystems is characterized by strong seasonality in coastal upwelling and downwelling, considerable freshwater influence, and variability from coupling with events and conditions in the tropical and North Pacific Ocean. The region supports ecologically and economically important resident and migratory populations of invertebrates, groundfish, pelagic fishes, marine mammals, and seabirds. Fisheries and Oceans Canada is responsible for the management and protection of marine resources on the Pacific coast of Canada.

Since 1999 an annual State of the Pacific Ocean meeting has been held by DFO to bring together the marine science community in the Pacific Region and present the results of the most recent year’s monitoring in the context of previous observations and expected future conditions. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the workshop to review ecosystem conditions in 2021 was convened virtually, March 8-10, 2022. This technical report includes submissions based on presentations given at the meeting and a few poster summaries.

Climate change is a dominant pressure acting on North Pacific marine ecosystems, causing, for example, increasing temperatures, deoxygenation, and acidification, and changes to circulation and vertical mixing. These pressures impact ecosystem nutrient concentrations essential to primary and secondary productivity, which then affect higher trophic levels through the food chain.