Kodiak researchers to study declining Pacific cod stocks

KODIAK, Alaska (AP) – Kodiak researchers are looking into why Pacific cod stocks have been shrinking over the past few years.

The Kodiak Daily Mirror reported Tuesday that the Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center researchers will collect information about the habitat use, diet and energetics of juvenile cod. Their studies will look at a hypothesis that warmer temperatures increase the metabolic rates of young cod and, subsequently, their food sources don’t supply enough energy.

The hypothesis stems from research that suggests the stocks’ decline was caused by a mass of warm water that appeared in the Pacific from 2014-16.

In October, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration survey reported a 71 percent decline in Pacific cod abundance in the gulf since 2015 and an 83 percent decline since 2013.
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Information from: Kodiak (Alaska) Daily Mirror, http://www.kodiakdailymirror.com

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