Our work examines management strategies, distribution, and ecology of coastal pelagic fish species (CPS) and highly migratory fish species (HMS). Specifically, we assess life history patterns using biological survey data, ocean model outputs, and remotely sensed variables, in order to:
-Identify environmental drivers of albacore distribution, movements, and foraging ecology.
-Investigate the impacts of climate variability and change and shifts in the dynamics of forage and predator species.
-Assess harvest strategies and develop management strategy evaluations for key fisheries, including North Pacific albacore and in the California Current system and the broader North Pacific.
-Understand the feeding ecology of swordfish and other large predators in the CCLME, and how and why diets change in space, time, by size, and sex.
-Examine dietary diversity, richness and niche overlap among swordfish and other predator species to provide insight into the likely extent of resource competition.
Knowledge of the feeding and behavioral ecology of top predators and their trophic interactions is important for the management and conservation of marine resources. The data we produce feed into the determination of stock structure, essential fish habitat, foraging ecology and fishing gear vulnerability; and thus guide managers in the development of formal harvest control rules and enforcement.