Applications of Satellite Sea Surface Temperature Data to the New England Lobster Fishery

Abstract:
The lobster fishery in New England represents the single most valuable marine resource in the western North Atlantic. To the State of Maine alone, this fishery is worth $150M annually and successful monitoring and management for a sustainable fishery is critical. One key to understanding spatial and interannual variability in lobster distribution and catch is quantifying the interaction between lobster planktonic larvae/settlement behavior and physical oceanographic processes responsible for growth rate, advective transport and/or environmental queues which trigger settlement. Earlier work has shown that ocean surface temperature plays a major role in lobster ecology. Here we propose to use an extensive time series of NOAA satellite imagery and existing lobster data, supported by concurrent wind data to carry out an intensive series of statistical comparisons. We will develop time series of metrics of surface temperature pattern and perform cross-correlations between these, wind data and lobster statistics. A recently developed 12 year time series of NOAA AVHRR PATHFINDER data for the Gulf of Maine allows unprecedented statistical comparison with marine resource data.

Goal and Objectives:
The overall goal of this project is to identify and quantify relationships between physical oceanographic parameters and lobster abundance. The project is aimed at development of fisheries applications for relatively easily and routinely sampled oceanographic parameters measured by satellites and their demonstration as potential predictive and management tools. We focus on surface physical parameters embodied by satellite- observed sea surface temperature (SST) measurements, supported by concurrent in situ wind observations. Specific objectives are to 1) identify and isolate features in time and/or space within satellite image time series which can be tested for correlation with time series of lobster field data for different life history stages, 2) identify, obtain, quality-check and quantify various metrics of lobster abundance and/or harvest in both time and space and finally, 3) quantify cross-correlations between these data series. We make direct use of NOAA advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) data to develop satellite-based prediction and management applications for a vital regional fishery, with the potential to supply critical information products necessary for building a sustainable fishery.