Links between the recruitment success of northern European hake (Merluccius merluccius L.) and a regime shift on the NE Atlantic continental shelf

The distribution of northern European hake (Merluccius merluccius L.) extends from the Bay of Biscay up to Norwegian waters. However, despite its wide geographical distribution, there have been few studies on fluctuations in the European hake populations. Marine ecosystem shifts have been investigated worldwide and their influence on trophic levels has been studied, from top predator fish populations down to planktonic prey species, but there is little information on the effect of atmosphere–ocean shifts on European hake. This work analyses hake recruitment success (recruits per adult biomass) in relation to environmental changes over the period 1978–2006 in order to determine whether the regime shift identified in several abiotic and biotic variables in the North Sea also affected the Northeast Atlantic shelf oceanography. Hake recruitment success as well as parameters such as the sea surface temperature, wind patterns and copepod abundance changed significantly at the end of the 1980s, demonstrating an ecological regime shift in the Northeast Atlantic. Despite the low reproductive biomass recorded during the last decades, hake recruitment success has been higher since the change in 1989/90. The higher productivity may have sustained the population despite the intense fishing pressure; copepod abundance, warmer water temperatures and moderate eastward transport were found to be beneficial. In conclusion, in 1988/89 the Northeast Atlantic environment shifted to a favourable regime for northern hake production. This study supports the hypothesis that the hydro‐climatic regime shift that affected the North Sea in the late 1980s may have influenced a wider region, such as the Northeast Atlantic.     

Long-term variability in the fish assemblage around Japan over the last century and early warning signals of regime shifts

The marine ecosystems around Japan are very productive and have typical wasp-waist structure dominated by small pelagic fishes such as sardine, exhibiting large low-frequency fluctuations in biomass. Whereas studies on the variability in abundance of individual species such as sardine and anchovy are popular, only a few studies focused on the long-term variability of fish assemblage around Japan. In this study, 13 species/taxa ranging from small forage to large predatory species and from warm- to cold-water species were selected to indicate essential characteristics of the fish assemblage and their drivers were analysed based on fishery, oceanographic and climatic data sets from 1901 to 2018. Results show that two outstanding peaks during the 1930s and 1980s were characterized by abundant sardine. Additionally, species composition showed high similarities during similar temperature regimes while exhibiting contrasts during different temperature regimes. Variations and regime shifts in dominant patterns and fish community indices coincided well with the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and regional sea surface temperature (SST). Furthermore, gradient forest analysis identified AMO and regional SSTs as most important predictors of dominant patterns and fish community indices, suggesting that the decadal and multidecadal variability in the fish assemblage around Japan was forced by basin-scale climate variability as inherent in the AMO through its connections with regional SSTs. Autocorrelation coefficient demonstrated that the ecological indicators have the potential to be early warning signals of regime shifts, which suggests the possibility of coming cold regime since around 2015 and has important implications for fisheries management.     

Effects of interdecadal climate variability on the oceanic ecosystems of the NE Pacific

A major reorganization of the North-east Pacific biota transpired following a climatic `regime shift' in the mid 1970s. In this paper, we characterize the effects of interdecadal climate forcing on the oceanic ecosystems of the NE Pacific Ocean. We consider the concept of scale in terms of both time and space within the North Pacific ecosystem and develop a conceptual model to illustrate how climate variability is linked to ecosystem change. Next we describe a number of recent studies relating climate to marine ecosystem dynamics in the NE Pacific Ocean. These studies have focused on most major components of marine ecosystems – primary and secondary producers, forage species, and several levels of predators. They have been undertaken at different time and space scales. However, taken together, they reveal a more coherent picture of how decadal-scale climate forcing may affect the large oceanic ecosystems of the NE Pacific. Finally, we synthesize the insight gained from interpreting these studies. Several general conclusions can be drawn.
1 There are large-scale, low-frequency, and sometimes very rapid changes in the distribution of atmospheric pressure over the North Pacific which are, in turn, reflected in ocean properties and circulation.
2 Oceanic ecosystems respond on similar time and space scales to variations in physical conditions.
3 Linkages between the atmosphere/ocean physics and biological responses are often different across time and space scales.
4 While the cases presented here demonstrate oceanic ecosystem response to climate forcing, they provide only hints of the mechanisms of interaction.
5 A model whereby ecosystem response to specified climate variation can be successfully predicted will be difficult to achieve because of scale mismatches and nonlinearities in the atmosphere–ocean–biosphere system.     

Mid-latitude wind stress: the energy source for climatic shifts in the North Pacific Ocean

Analyses of atmospheric observations in the North Pacific demonstrate extensive decadal-scale variations in the mid-latitude winter surface wind stress. In the decade after 1976 winter, eastward wind stress doubled over a broad area in the central North Pacific and the winter zero wind stress curl line was displaced about 6° southward. This resulted in increased southward Ekman transport, increased oceanic upwelling, and increased turbulent mixing as well as a southward expansion of the area of surface divergence. All these factors contributed to a decadal winter cold anomaly along the subtropical side of the North Pacific Current. In summer the cold anomaly extended eastward, almost reaching the coast of Oregon. The increased gradient in wind stress curl and southward displacement of the zero curl line also resulted in an increase in total North Pacific Current transport, primarily on the Equator side of this Current. Thus, surface water entering the California Current was of more subtropical origin in the post-1976 decade. Southward (upwelling favourable) wind stress and sea surface temperature (SST) in the area off San Francisco exhibit at least three different types of decadal departures from mean conditions. In association with the 1976 climatic shift, marine fishery production in the Oyashio, California and Alaska Currents altered dramatically, suggesting that these natural environmental variations significantly alter the long-term yields of major North Pacific fisheries.     

Subpolar gyre and temperature drive boreal fish abundance in Greenland waters

As result of ocean warming, marine boreal species have shifted their distribution poleward, with increases in abundance at higher latitudes, and declines in abundance at lower latitudes. A key to predict future changes in fish communities is to understand how fish stocks respond to climate variability. Scattered field observations in the first half of the 20th century suggested that boreal fish may coherently invade Greenland waters when temperatures rise, but this hypothesis has remained untested. Therefore, we studied how local temperature variability and the dynamics of the subpolar gyre, a large‐scale driver of oceanic conditions in the North Atlantic, affect abundance of boreal fishes in a region that sharply defines their lower thermal boundary. We analysed information from demersal trawl surveys from 1981 to 2017, for species distributed from shallow shelf to depths of 1,500 m, collected at over 10,000 stations along ~3,000 km of Greenland. Our results show that local temperature and variability of Labrador and Irminger Sea water in the subpolar gyre region drive interdecadal variability of boreal fish abundance in Greenland waters. Although temperature fluctuations were higher in shallow than deep regions, fish abundance changed as quickly in great depths as in shallow depths. This link between physics and biology provides an opportunity for prediction of future trends, which is of utility in Greenland, where fisheries constitute more than 90% of the national export value.     

Characterizing regime shifts in the marine environment

Recent years have seen a plethora of studies reporting that ‘regime shifts’ have occurred in the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans during the last century. In many cases, the criteria used to distinguish a regime shift have not been explicitly stated. In other cases, a formal definition has been proposed and the data set assessed against it. Developing a universal quantitative definition for identifying and distinguishing between purported climatic and ecological regime shifts has proved problematic as many authors have developed criteria that seem unique to the system under study. Consequently, they throw little light on the drivers of ecological regime shifts. Criteria used to define regime shifts are reviewed and on the basis of evidence from purported regime shifts, common characteristics in the speed and amplitude of the changes and the duration of quasi‐stable states are used to propose a more clearly defined set of criteria for defining climatic and ecological regime shifts. Causal drivers of regime shifts are explored using correlation analysis. Limitations of these methods are discussed.     

Biogeography of pelagic food webs in the North Pacific

The tufted puffin (Fratercula cirrhata) is a generalist seabird that breeds throughout the North Pacific and eats more than 75 different prey species. Using puffins as samplers, we characterized the geographic variability in pelagic food webs across the subarctic North Pacific from the composition of ~10,000 tufted puffin meals (~56,000 prey items) collected at 35 colonies in the Gulf of Alaska (GoA) and Aleutian Archipelago. Cluster analysis of diet species composition suggested three distinct forage fish communities: (i) in the northern GoA, multiple age‐classes of coastal and shelf residents such as capelin, sand lance and herring dominated the food web, (ii) in the western GoA to eastern Aleutians, the shelf community was dominated by transient age‐0 walleye pollock, and (iii) in the western Aleutians, shelf‐edge and mesopelagic forage species such as squid, lanternfish, and Atka mackerel were prevalent. Geographic patterns of abundance of capelin and sand lance in tufted puffin diets were corroborated by independent research fisheries and diets of piscivorous fish, indicating that puffin diets reflect the local abundance of forage species, not just selection of favored species. Generalized additive models showed that habitat characteristics predict, in a non‐linear fashion, forage species distribution and abundance across two large marine ecosystems. We conclude that major biogeographic patterns in forage fish distribution follow gradients in key habitat features, and puffin diets reflect those patterns.     

Climate‐induced nonlinearity in pelagic communities and non‐stationary relationships with physical drivers in the Kuroshio ecosystem

Climate‐induced nonlinearity in biological variability and non‐stationary relationships with physical drivers are crucial to understand responses of marine organisms to climate variability. These phenomena have raised concerns in the northeastern North Pacific, but are out of the spotlight in the northwestern North Pacific in spite of potential implications for this productive system under increased climate variability. Pelagic communities in the Kuroshio ecosystem have both ecological and economic importance. However, patterns of climate‐induced nonlinearity in pelagic communities are not well understood, and existence of non‐stationarity in their relationships with physical drivers remains obscure. Here, we compile large numbers of climatic, oceanic and biological long‐term time‐series data and employ diverse statistical techniques to reveal such climate‐induced nonlinearity and non‐stationarity. Results show that pelagic communities in the Tsushima and Pacific areas (major areas in the Kuroshio ecosystem) had regime shifts in the late 1990s and late 1980s, respectively. Winter sea surface temperatures in the Kuroshio Current path and in the eastern part of East China Sea, which are respectively affected by the Kuroshio Current and Siberian High, correlate with dominant variability patterns in their pelagic communities. Furthermore, non‐stationarity was identified with threshold years in the 1990s in the Tsushima area and in the 1980s in the Pacific area as a possible result of the declined variances in the Siberian High and Aleutian Low, respectively. Our findings provide insights on spatial differentiation of climate‐induced nonlinearity and non‐stationarity, which are valuable for the management of pelagic communities in the northwestern North Pacific under changing climatic conditions.     

The global contribution of forage fish to marine fisheries and ecosystems

Forage fish play a pivotal role in marine ecosystems and economies worldwide by sustaining many predators and fisheries directly and indirectly. We estimate global forage fish contributions to marine ecosystems through a synthesis of 72 published Ecopath models from around the world. Three distinct contributions of forage fish were examined: (i) the ecological support service of forage fish to predators in marine ecosystems, (ii) the total catch and value of forage fisheries and (iii) the support service of forage fish to the catch and value of other commercially targeted predators. Forage fish use and value varied and exhibited patterns across latitudes and ecosystem types. Forage fish supported many kinds of predators, including fish, seabirds, marine mammals and squid. Overall, forage fish contribute a total of about $16.9 billion USD to global fisheries values annually, i.e. 20% of the global ex‐vessel catch values of all marine fisheries combined. While the global catch value of forage fisheries was $5.6 billion, fisheries supported by forage fish were more than twice as valuable ($11.3 billion). These estimates provide important information for evaluating the trade‐offs of various uses of forage fish across ecosystem types, latitudes and globally. We did not estimate a monetary value for supportive contributions of forage fish to recreational fisheries or to uses unrelated to fisheries, and thus the estimates of economic value reported herein understate the global value of forage fishes.     

Habitat preferences of striped marlin (Kajikia audax) in the eastern Pacific Ocean

Striped marlin (Kajikia audax) is an epipelagic species distributed in tropical and temperate waters of the Pacific Ocean. In the central and eastern Pacific Ocean, it is captured principally in commercial longline fisheries, and in small artisanal fisheries, however, it is also taken throughout its range in this region as an incidental catch of the tuna purse‐seine fishery. Previous studies suggest that overexploitation and climate change may reduce abundance and cause changes in spatial distributions of marine species. The main objective of this study was to describe the habitat preferences of striped marlin and the changes in its distribution in response to environmental factors. Habitat modeling was conducted using a maximum entropy model. Operational level data for 2003–2014, collected by scientific observers aboard large purse seine vessels, were compiled by the Inter‐American Tropical Tuna Commission and were matched with detailed (4 km) oceanographic data from satellites and general circulation models. Results showed that the spatial distribution of habitat was dynamic, with seasonal shifts between coastal (winter) and oceanic (summer) waters. We found that the preferred habitat is mainly in coastal waters with warm sea surface temperatures and a high chlorophyll‐a concentration.     

Integrating seabird dietary and groundfish stock assessment data: Can puffins predict pollock spawning stock biomass in the North Pacific?

Information on the annual variability in abundance and growth of juvenile groundfish can be useful for predicting fisheries stocks, but is often poorly known owing to difficulties in sampling fish in their first year of life. In the Western Gulf of Alaska (WGoA) and Eastern Bering Sea (EBS) ecosystems, three species of puffin (tufted and horned puffin, Fratercula cirrhata, Fratercula corniculata, and rhinoceros auklet, Cerorhinca monocerata, Alcidae), regularly prey upon (i.e., “sample”) age-0 groundfish, including walleye pollock (Gadus chalcogramma, Gadidae) and Pacific cod (Gadus microcephalus, Gadidae). Here, we test the hypothesis that integrating puffin dietary data with walleye pollock stock assessment data provides information useful for fisheries management, including indices of interannual variation in age-0 abundance and growth. To test this hypothesis, we conducted cross-correlation and regression analyses of puffin-based indices and spawning stock biomass (SSB) for the WGoA and EBS walleye pollock stocks. For the WGoA, SSB leads the abundance of age-0 fish in the puffin diet, indicating that puffins sample the downstream production of the WGoA spawning stock. By contrast, the abundance and growth of age-0 fish sampled by puffins lead SSB for the EBS stock by 1–3 years, indicating that the puffin diet proxies incoming year class strength for this stock. Our study indicates connectivity between the WGoA and EBS walleye pollock stocks. Integration of non-traditional data sources, such as seabird diet data, with stock assessment data appears useful to inform information gaps important for managing US fisheries in the North Pacific.     

Interannual-decadal variability of demersal fish assemblages in the Tsushima Warm Current region of the Japan Sea: Impacts of climate regime shifts and trawl fisheries with implications for ecosystem-based management

Data sets for two bottom trawl fisheries, the coastal pair-trawler fishery and offshore single-trawler fishery in the Tsushima Warm Current (TWC) region of the Japan Sea, were compiled and analyzed for the last three decades (1974-2006). These data sets were used to (1) identify and compare the variability in demersal fish assemblages, and (2) relate these to water temperature to examine the impacts of climate regime shifts. Principal component analysis (PCA) of catches of target species in the two trawler fisheries showed synchronous decadal variability with step changes around 1986/1987 and 1996/1997. These step changes strongly suggest the effect of the late 1980s climate regime shift, which was characterized by an abrupt change from a cool to a warm condition in the TWC. The first and second principal components (PC1 and PC2) for both trawler fisheries agreed closely with winter and summer water temperature in the Japan Sea, respectively, suggesting PC1 (PC2) was associated with cold- (warm-) water species. However, between warm- and cold-water species the response pattern to water temperature was different. CPUE (catch per unit effort) of warm- (cold-) water species correlated positively (negatively) with water temperature, indicating the increase in water temperature has a positive (negative) effect on warm- (cold-) water species. Cold-water species decreased (increased) both in biomass and distribution during the warm (cold) regime, while warm-water species increased in biomass and/or distribution during the warm 1990s. These results suggested that the demersal fish assemblage structure changed abruptly as a consequence of the late 1980s climate regime shift. Impact of fishing was unclear on the demersal fish assemblage as a whole, but fishing pressure has been intensified for specific species under unfavorable climate regimes even with a declining fishing effort. Differing response patterns between warm- and cold-water species to climate regime shifts suggest the importance of integrated assessment and ecosystem-based management for the whole trawl fishery rather than only for individual target species.     

Multi‐decadal climate and fishing predictors of abundance for U.S. South Atlantic coastal fishes and invertebrates

Abundance of marine stocks fluctuates in response to both internal processes (e.g., density dependence) and exogenous drivers, including the physical environment, fishing, and trophodynamic interactions. In the United States, research investigating ecosystem drivers has been focused in data‐rich systems, primarily in the North Atlantic and North Pacific. To develop a more holistic understanding of important ecosystem drivers in the Southeast U.S. continental shelf Large Marine Ecosystem, we applied generalized linear and dynamic linear modeling to investigate the effects of climate and fishing covariates on the relative abundance trends of 71 demersal fish and invertebrate species sampled by a coastal trawl survey during 1990–2013. For the assemblage as a whole, fishing effects predominated over climate effects. In particular, changes in trawling effort within the penaeid shrimp fishery governed abundance trends of bony fishes, invertebrates, and elasmobranchs, a likely result of temporal changes in bycatch mortality. Changes in trawling intensity induced changes in overall community composition and appear to have altered trophic interactions among particular species. Among climate indices investigated, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and the Western Bermuda High Index were most prevalent in well‐supported dynamic linear models. Observed annual abundance trends were synchronous among some taxonomically related species, highlighting similar responses to exogenous influences based on life history. This study strengthens the foundation for generating hypotheses and advancing ecosystem‐based fisheries research within the region.     

Salmon shark connections: North Pacific climate change,indirect fisheries effects,or just variability?

A variety of changes are occurring in the ecosystems of the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea, but information about the mechanisms of change has been relatively limited, due in part to the region’s remoteness and subarctic conditions. Any number of ecosystem components or indicators could be used to exemplify this dilemma, but here we point to the salmon shark (Lamna ditropis, Lamnidae) as an example of a species that can potentially mediate considerable ecosystem change due to its high trophic level, but for which some basic information is lacking despite attracting some interesting research and widespread rumours and anecdotal evidence of increased abundance. Increases in the abundance of sharks such as salmon sharks in this region during the 1990s, if true, may help explain other observed changes such as declines in ocean survival rates of Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp., Salmonidae) in the region and declines in some wild salmon stocks. Mechanisms that could cause salmon shark increases in Alaskan coastal waters include: (i) increases in sea temperature since the 1970s allowing distributional shifts of this species and changes in the abundance or distribution of their prey; (ii) the 1992 banning of high seas drift gillnets; and (iii) indirect fisheries effects such as competitive release of salmon sharks in the North Pacific transition region and towards the more southern geographic extent of their annual migration as the result of fishery‐related reductions in blue sharks (Prionace glauca, Carcharhinidae) and other pelagic predators. The relative plausibility of these alternative explanations can be evaluated using combinations of existing ecosystem models and empirical research and monitoring programmes including local and indigenous observations.     

Bottom-up forcing and the decline of Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) in Alaska: assessing the ocean climate hypothesis

Declines of Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) populations in the Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska could be a consequence of physical oceanographic changes associated with the 1976–77 climate regime shift. Changes in ocean climate are hypothesized to have affected the quantity, quality, and accessibility of prey, which in turn may have affected the rates of birth and death of sea lions. Recent studies of the spatial and temporal variations in the ocean climate system of the North Pacific support this hypothesis. Ocean climate changes appear to have created adaptive opportunities for various species that are preyed upon by Steller sea lions at mid‐trophic levels. The east–west asymmetry of the oceanic response to climate forcing after 1976–77 is consistent with both the temporal aspect (populations decreased after the late 1970s) and the spatial aspect of the decline (western, but not eastern, sea lion populations decreased). These broad‐scale climate variations appear to be modulated by regionally sensitive biogeographic structures along the Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska, which include a transition point from coastal to open‐ocean conditions at Samalga Pass westward along the Aleutian Islands. These transition points delineate distinct clusterings of different combinations of prey species, which are in turn correlated with differential population sizes and trajectories of Steller sea lions. Archaeological records spanning 4000 yr further indicate that sea lion populations have experienced major shifts in abundance in the past. Shifts in ocean climate are the most parsimonious underlying explanation for the broad suite of ecosystem changes that have been observed in the North Pacific Ocean in recent decades.     

Implications of fish migration and fishing mortality for marine protected area design

The Convention on Biological Diversity calls for networks of ‘representative’ MPAs, the effectiveness of which requires that the protected ecosystems be independent of external anthropogenic pressures. One principal pressure, fishing, severely depletes the oldest age classes of the target fish even if optimally managed. As many fishery resource species had high natural abundance and large individual sizes, while most fish show indeterminate growth and ascend the trophic pyramid as they grow, elimination of older age classes equates to removal of once‐dominant top predators. Because archetypal resource species are also migratory, that loss is transported throughout the range of the exploited populations, including into MPAs, through a lack of large migrants. The ecological implications remain uncertain in marine ecosystems, which are typically under ‘bottom‐up’ control. ‘Top‐down’ effects, such as mesopredator release, species replacement and trophic cascades, have been observed, however, meaning that elimination of top predators may affect ecosystem structure. It follows that, while exceptions doubtless exist, in general ‘representative’ MPAs should not be expected to fulfil their declared purposes, unless they are made so large as to encompass the whole migratory circuits of principal resource species – implying indefinite closure of the fisheries affected. Some compromise may be possible if MPAs were combined with fishing mortality rates far below current ‘optimal’ levels or where fishing can be concentrated on younger adults, while older fish are protected from exploitation. In any case, societies must choose between seafood production and recovery of selected marine areas to near‐pristine conditions.     

山东近海习见鱼类DNA条形码及其电子芯片分析

从GenBank下载到13目50科73属77种山东近海鱼类的线粒体细胞色素c氧化酶I(CO I)序列,通过分析其遗传距离及系统进化,并基于CO I序列筛选物种特异性探针来分析DNA芯片技术在进行物种鉴定时的可行性。结果表明,在CO I基因DNA条形码的分析中,77种鱼类的种间遗传距离(平均0.117)明显大于种内遗传距离(平均0.0034),且每个物种的不同个体在进化树上都能聚在一起,提示DNA条形码能全部区分77个物种;根据CO I基因设计的用于芯片的特异性探针中,77个物种最终有64个可以筛选出物种特异性探针,占总物种数的83.1%,本研究旨在为山东近海鱼类物种鉴定提供了技术支持。     

Temporal and spatial responses of British Columbia steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) populations to ocean climate shifts

The pattern of temporal change in recruitment of steelhead trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss ) entering the ocean between 1963 and 1990 was geographically coherent in all regions of British Columbia. A major increase in recruitment was evident for smolts entering the ocean after 1977. Subsequently, an out-of-phase response occurred after 1990, indicating that the effect of a possible 1990 regime shift had both temporal and geographical structure. Steelhead entering northern regions had increasing recruitment, while steelhead entering southern BC coastal regions had sharply decreasing recruitment. The evidence clearly indicates that the overall recruitment response since 1977 was primarily shaped by changes in marine (not freshwater) survival. Similar sudden changes in adult recruitment also appear to be occurring for other species of Pacific salmon in BC and Oregon, such as coho ( O. kisutch ), which appear to occur suddenly and show considerable persistence. A possible explanation for the change is that ocean productivity declined in coastal regions of southern BC after 1990, reducing the marine growth of juvenile salmon. The Bakun upwelling index shows a pattern of geographical coherence along the west coast of North America that could in principle explain the observed pattern of changes in recruitment. However, no evidence for a temporal shift in this index occurring around 1977 and 1990 is apparent. The reason for the sudden and persistent decline in ocean survival is therefore uncertain.     

Stable isotope variations in otoliths of Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) and indications of the possible 1990 regime shift

Stable oxygen and carbon isotope ratios (δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C) from archived otoliths of Pacific halibut, Hippoglossus stenolepis, were measured to examine the most recent regime shifts in British Columbia and the Gulf of Alaska. δ¹⁸O values of these otoliths ranged from −1.5 to +2.8‰ VPDB, and were consistent with the life stages and migration behavior of halibut. δ¹³C varied from −3.3 to +0.9‰ VPDB, but did not show a transition from the juvenile to the adult stage as does δ¹⁸O. Evaluation of δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C values of mature halibut (ages 8–12) indicated that the 1977 regime shift might have a warming impact on the northeast Pacific fish stocks. In contrast, a possible regime shift around 1990 with a bottom seawater temperature decrease of about 2 °C might have occurred in both the areas. The connection between stable isotope variations in otoliths and the climate regime shifts is thus potentially useful in studying the population dynamics of Pacific halibut, and decadal scale (e.g., the last 20–30 years) ocean environmental changes.