The Fishery Interaction Team (FIT): A Decade of Research on the Indirect Interactions Between Fisheries and Marine Mammals

Scientists in the Fishery Interaction Team (FIT), established in 2001, study the potential impacts of commercial groundfish fishing on the endangered Steller sea lion in Alaska. Our overarching hypothesis is that commercial fishing results in localized depletion of Steller sea lion prey. FIT studies center on the three dominant groundfish prey of Steller sea lions: walleye pollock, Pacific cod  and Atka mackerel. We approach our research objectives in two ways. First, by conducting at-sea experiments to test the hypothesis that commercial fishing causes localized depletion of sea lion prey. Second, by studying local fish abundance, movement and other behavior (such as feeding and reproduction) to better understand how fishing might impact fish ecology and thus the prey field of Steller sea lions. This talk will describe FIT’s three major field efforts to investigate the localized impacts of commercial fishing on walleye pollock, Pacific cod and Atka mackerel. FIT field research to date indicates that competition between fisheries and higher trophic level predators such as Steller sea lions can occur but that issues of scale, fish movement, fish behavior and experimental methodology need further attention. Furthermore, explicit links between fishing, predator foraging behavior and predator population parameters are lacking.