Gulf Watch Alaska: Long-term research and monitoring in the Gulf of Alaska

Abstract

Gulf Watch Alaska: Long-term research and monitoring in the Gulf of Alaska Within the Gulf of Alaska, in the North Pacific Ocean, three major events - both natural and human-caused – resulted in large-scale ecosystem changes during the last 50 years. The first event was a naturally occurring ecosystem regime shift in the late 1970s in which altered ocean conditions resulted in dramatic changes in marine communities. This event caused long-term declines in many shrimp, crab, seabird, and marine mammal populations over the subsequent decades (Anderson and Piatt 1999). As a result, some fisheries were closed, and a population of sea lions was listed as endangered, while some other species and fisheries thrived.