Progress of Fisheries-Oceanography Coordinated Investigations in the Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Passes

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Ecosystems & Fisheries-Oceanography Coordinated Investigations (EcoFOCI) is a joint research program between the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and the Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC). FOCI was established by NOAA in 1984 to study the variability in recruitment success of commercially valuable fin and shellfish in Alaskan waters. The project initially studied walleye pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus) in the context of western Gulf of Alaska oceanography and meteorology. Transitioning from FOCI to EcoFOCI, the program broadened into ecosystem research in the North Pacific and US Arctic (including climate), drawing on multiple scientific disciplines, and continuing to match NOAA scientists with academic colleagues working at NOAA’s cooperative institutes and other universities. EcoFOCI is an authoritative provider of scientific information that supports decision-making and environmental stewardship in Alaskan marine ecosystems through collaborative partnerships, innovation, and scientific integrity. Here, we discuss the origins of EcoFOCI and highlight a few of the scientific accomplishments of the program in understanding the drivers and impacts of long-term oceanographic trends, as well as extreme and episodic events, in the Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Island ecosystems.