Sea Water Temperature and Cod Spawning
Bellin, Garrett Mann, Roger L.
Bellin, Garrett
Mann, Roger L.
Abstract
As the ocean temperature rises following recent global warming trends, Atlantic cod populations have begun to disappear from their normal habitats on the east coast. This trend has been affecting aquatic life and in turn, access to the region’s fish resources. GIS analysis of this issue has enabled the creation of time sliders showing the change in temperature over time in relation to the change in cod distribution and the creation of habitat suitability indexes to show the sharp decline in suitable area for cod to spawn and live, since the onset of ocean and global warming trends. Marine biologists and fisheries managers shared their thoughts on which factors affect suitability for cod spawning including depth, substrate type, and temperature. These factors were used to create maps that show suitable areas for cod spawning from 1959 to the present. At present, the goal is to inform policy decisions about which areas must be protected to preserve what was once one of the region’s most abundant resources, cod. Over the past 2 years, Garrett Bellin, an undergraduate student at William & Mary, has performed GIS analysis to research and present cod disappearance at the National Science Foundation’s SCEMFIS conferences across the country using ArcGIS StoryMaps.
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2023-10-19
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Molluscan Ecology Program
Research and Technical Reports, Cod, Climate Change, GIS, Habitat Suitability, ArcGIS. Fisheries, Atlantic, Nantucket