Elmer E. Rasmuson Library Cataloging in Publication Data The Gulf of Alaska : biology and oceanography / Phillip R. Mundy, ed. – Fairbanks : Alaska Sea Grant College Program, University of Alaska Fairbanks 2005. p. : ill., maps ; cm. – (Alaska Sea Grant College Program ; AK-SG-05-01) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-56612-090-x 1. Marine biology—Alaska, Gulf of. 2. Oceanography—Alaska. 3. Ecosystem health—Alaska, Gulf of. I. Title. II. Mundy, Phillip R. (Phillip Roy). Series: Alaska Sea Grant College Program report ; AK-SG-05-01. QH95.35.G845 2005 Citation: Mundy, Phillip R. (ed.). 2005. The Gulf of Alaska: Biology and Oceanography. Alaska Sea Grant College Program, University of Alaska Fairbanks. CREDITS Work for this book was supported by a grant from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council, Anchorage, Alaska. The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council oversees restoration of the injured ecosystem through a civil settlement that includes the State of Alaska, the U.S. Federal Government, and the Exxon Company. Please see http://www.evostc.state.ak.us. ATMOSP ND HE Publisher of the book is the Alaska Sea Grant College Program, supported by R A IC IC A N D A M E I C N O I S the U.S. Department of Commerce, NOAA National Sea Grant Office, grant L T A R N A T O I I O T N A NA16RG2321, project A/161-01; and by the University of Alaska Fairbanks N U E S C with state funds. The University of Alaska is an affirmative action/equal D R E E P M A M RT O MENT OF C opportunity employer and educational institution. Sea Grant is a unique partnership with public and private sectors combining research, education, and technology transfer for public service. This national network of universities meets changing environmental and economic needs of people in our coastal, ocean, and Great Lakes regions. Alaska Sea Grant College Program University of Alaska Fairbanks P.O. Box 755040 Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-5040 Toll free (888) 789-0090 (907) 474-6707 • fax (907) 474-6285 www.alaskaseagrant.org ii Contents V PREFACE V ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Phillip R. Mundy and Robert Spies 15 CHAPTER 2 PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL BACKGROUND Phillip R. Mundy and Robert T. Cooney 25 CHAPTER 3 CLIMATE AND WEATHER Phillip R. Mundy and Peter Olsson 35 CHAPTER 4 PHYSICAL AND GEOLOGICAL OCEANOGRAPHY: COASTAL BOUNDARIES AND COASTAL AND OCEAN CIRCULATION Thomas Weingartner 49 CHAPTER 5 BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL OCEANOGRAPHY Robert T. Cooney 59 CHAPTER 6 NEARSHORE BENTHIC COMMUNITIES Charles Peterson 69 CHAPTER 7 SEABIRDS IN THE GULF OF ALASKA Alan Springer 81 CHAPTER 8 FISH AND SHELLFISH Phillip R. Mundy and Anne Hollowed 99 CHAPTER 9 MARINE MAMMALS Lloyd Lowry and James Bodkin 117 CHAPTER 10 ECONOMICS OF HUMAN USES AND ACTIVITIES IN THE NORTHERN GULF OF ALASKA James Richardson and Gregg Erickson 139 CHAPTER 11 MODELING Gretchen Oosterhout 153 REFERENCES 181 ACRONYMS 193 INDEX iii PREFACE The knowledge and experience gained during years of science studies in the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS) confirmed that understanding the sources of changes in marine resources and ecosystems requires putting those changes into a historical context. Toward this end, in 1999 the EVOS Trustee Council dedicated funds for long- term monitoring and ecosystem-based research in the area affected by the 1989 oil spill, which is the northern Gulf of Alaska (GOA), including Prince William Sound, Cook Inlet, Kodiak Island, and the Alaska Peninsula. This program is called the GEM (Gulf of Alaska Ecosystem Monitoring and Research) Program. GEM’s mission is to sustain a healthy and biologically diverse marine ecosystem in the northern GOA and to sustain human use of the marine resources in the ecosystem through greater understanding of how productivity is influenced by natural changes and human activities. As part of the GEM Program, scientists cooperated to compile the scientific knowledge of the GOA. That scientific compilation, updated, makes up the content of this book, The Gulf of Alaska: Biology and Oceanography. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The scientific leadership for the Gulf of Alaska Ecosystem Monitoring and Research Program (GEM) was provided by Phillip R. Mundy and Robert Spies. Molly McCammon provided policy leadership. Editors for the version of the manuscript reviewed by the National Research Council were Molly McCammon, Phil Mundy, Katharine Miller, and Bob Walker. Sue Keller edited this Alaska Sea Grant publication. Book cover design is by Dixon Jones; cover image is from Mountain High Maps ® Copyright © 1993 Digital Wisdom, Inc. Text formatting is by Kathy Kurtenbach. Past and present members of the Exxon Valdez Trustee Council and their alternates during development of GEM are gratefully acknowledged: Jim Balsiger, Bruce Botelho, Michele Brown, Dave Gibbons, Marilyn Heiman, Drue Pearce, Steve Pennoyer, Frank Rue, and Craig Tillery. Special thanks to the volunteer scientists of the National Research Coucil’s Committee to Review the Gulf of Alaska Ecosystem Monitoring Program: Michael Roman (chair), Don Bowen, Andria A. Elskus, John J. Goering, George Hunt, Seth Macinko, Donal Manahan, Brenda Norcross, J. Steven Picou, Thomas C. Royer, Jennifer Ruesink, and Karl Turekian. The committee was ably staffed by Chris Elfring, David Policansky, and Ann Carlisle. Because GEM was developed in an open and collaborative process that spanned nearly three years, many people had occasion to make material and intellectual contributions. The efforts of the following are gratefully acknowledged: Alisa Abookire, Ken Adams, Vera Alexander, Jennifer Allen, Fred Allendorf, Paul Anderson, Peter Armato, Shannon Atkinson, Kerim Aydin, Jim Ayres, Michael Baffrey; Torie Baker, Kris Balliet, Hal Batchelder, Bill Bechtol, Catherine Berg, Brock Bernstein, Chris Blackburn, Jim Blackburn, John Blaha, Jim Bod- kin, Dede Bohn, James Brady, Stephen Braund, Evelyn Brown, Patty Brown-Schwalen- berg, Al Burch, Vern Byrd, Robin Carlson, Rob Cermak, Veronica Christman, Robert Clark, Dave Cobb, Ken Coyle, Ted Cooney, Seth Danielson, Tom Dean, Robert DeVelice, Jane DiCosimo, Gary Drew, Janet Duffy-Anderson, Doug Eggers, Greg Erickson, Dave Eslinger, Charles Falkenberg, Gary Fandrei, Bob Foy, Steve Frenzel, Carol Fries, Fritz Funk, Dan Gillikin, David Goldstein, Andy Gunther, Gary Gury, Ed Harrison, Bill Hauser, Robert Henrichs, Carrie Holba, Ken Holbrook, Anne Hollowed, Brett Huber, Gary Hufford, Charlie Hughey, Dan Hull, Joe Hunt, Henry Huntington, Steve Ignell, David Irons, Lisa Ka’aihue, Tom Kline, Gary Kompkoff, Jan Konigsberg, Gordon Kruse, Kathy Kuletz, Pat Lavin, Pat Livingston, Lloyd Lowry, Allen Macklin, Tom Malone, Suzanne Marcy, Richard Marasco, Michael H. Martin, Paul McCollum, Walter Meganack Jr., Jennifer Nielsen, v Gordon Nelson, Pat Norman, Phil North, Worth Nowlin, Peter Q. Olsson, Gretchen Oosterhout, Ted Otis, Paul Panamarioff, Kent Patrick-Riley, Charles Peterson, John Piatt, Josie Quintrell, Terry Reed, Bud Rice, Stanley Rice, Jim Richardson, Evan Richert, Monica Riedel, George Rose, Dave Roseneau, Susan Saupe, Andy Schmidt, Carl Schoch, Sandra Schubert, Marianne See, Stan Senner, Bob Shavelson, Jeff Shester, Hugh Short, Jeff Short, Claudia Slater, Bob Small, Alan Springer, Robert Spies, Stacy Studebaker, Arliss Sturgulewski, Joe Sullivan, Kevin Summers, Gary Thomas, Glenn VanBlaricom, Shari Vaughan, Gale Vick, Jia Wang, Sarah Ward, Tom Weingartner, Steve Weisberg, David Welch, Kent Wohl, Cherri Womac, Bruce Wright, and Kate Wynne.◆ This book is dedicated to the memory of our friend, colleague, and coauthor, Dr. Charles Falkenberg, who died with his wife and two daughters in the crash of American Airlines flight 77 at the Pentagon, September 11, 2001. Dr. Falkenberg, his family, and the others who perished on that date will dwell in our collective memory forever. vi The Gulf of Alaska: Biology and Oceanography 1 CHAPTER1 Introduction Phillip R. Mundy and Robert Spies HE AT A LANCE Natural physical forces control productivity by limit- 1.1 T GOA G ing the amount of food and availability of habitats. The conceptual foundation for the Gulf of Alaska During the winter especially, the Aleutian Low (GOA) ecosystem explains how its plant and ani- produces wind-driven transport of surface marine mal populations are controlled through time. The waters (Ekman transport), bringing water onshore. conceptual foundation is the product of syntheses of Movement of water onshore creates downwelling the latest scientific information and an assessment that takes plankton and associated nutrients out of of leading ecological hypotheses. It encapsulates the photic zone. On the other hand, the wind may our understanding of how the GOA operates as an act to hold the nutrients dissolved in water and held ecological system and how its biological resources, in detritus in the photic zone in some areas, because including highly valued populations of animals, are wind also produces turbulence that mixes the sur- regulated. Citations to scientific literature are omit- face water. Turbulent mixing causes nutrients to be ted in the following paragraphs for the sake of brevity. retained in surface waters, and retention increases production of phytoplankton, the base of the food If watersheds and marine areas of the GOA are web in surface waters. Production of zooplankton, looked at together, the importance of key geological secondary productivity, is the trophic connection features in shaping the natural physical and biologi- (linkage) of phytoplankton to production of forage cal forces that control productivity is apparent (Fig- fish, which in turn links primary productivity to ure 1.1). Features illustrated in Figure 1.1 are in seabirds, large fish, marine mammals, and benthic bold in the following text. Natural forces are shaped and intertidal communities. by the surface topography of the GOA. Storm tracks moving across the North Pacific from west to east The biogeochemical cycle is an important collection can drive Aleutian low pressure systems (Aleutian of natural biological and physical processes control- Low) deep into the GOA until the encounter with ling the productivities of both marine and terrestrial boundary mountains causes the release of precipita- environments.