Impacts of oceanographic factors on interannual variability of the winter-spring cohort of neon flying squid abundance in the Northwest Pacific Ocean

The neon flying squid Ommastrephes bartramii is an economically important species in the Northwest Pacific Ocean. The life cycle of O. bartramii is highly susceptible to climatic and oceanic factors. In this study, we have examined the impacts of climate variability and local biophysical environments on the interannual variability of the abundance of the western winter-spring cohort of O. bartramii over the period of 1995–2011. The results showed that the squid had experienced alternant positive and negative Pacific Decadal Oscillation（PDO） over the past 17 years during which five El Ni？o and eight La Ni？a events occurred. The catch per unit effort（CPUE） was positively correlated with the PDO index（PDOI） at a one-year time lag. An abnormally warm temperature during the La Ni？a years over the positive PDO phase provided favorable oceanographic conditions for the habitats of O.bartramii, whereas a lower temperature on the fishing ground during the El Ni？o years over the negative PDO phase generally corresponded to a low CPUE. The same correlation was also found between CPUE and Chl a concentration anomaly. A possible explanation was proposed that the CPUE was likely related to the climateinduced variability of the large-scale circulation in the Northwest Pacific Ocean： high squid abundance often occurred in a year with a significant northward meander of the Kuroshio Current. The Kuroshio Current advected the warmer and food-rich waters into the fishing ground, and multiple meso-scale eddies arising from current instability enhanced the food retention on the fishing ground, all of which were favorable for the life stage development of the western squid stocks. Our results help better understand the potential process that the climatic and oceanographic factors affect the abundance of the winter-spring cohort of O. bartramii in the Northwest Pacific Ocean.

Response of winter cohort abundance of Japanese common squid Todarodes pacificus to the ENSO events

The Japanese common squid Todarodes pacificus is an economically important species with one year lifespan,which is significantly influenced by climatic and environmental variability. According to the fishery data of the winter cohort of T. pacificus from 2003 to 2012, as well as environmental data and the Oceanic Ni？o index（ONI,which was defined by the sea surface temperature（SST） anomaly in the Ni？o 3.4 region）, variations in the SST,chlorophyll a（Chl a） concentration, suitable spawning area（SSA） and sea surface height anomaly（SSHA） on the spawning ground of T. pacificus were examined under the El Ni？o and La Nina conditions. Their influences on squid abundance（defined by catch per unit effort, CPUE） were further assessed. The results showed that seasonal changes were found in SST, Chl a and SSA on the spawning ground of T. pacificus. Correlation analysis suggested that annual CPUE was significantly positively correlated with Chl a and SSA（p〈0.05）, but had insignificant relationship with SST（p〉0.05）. Moreover, the El Ni？o and La Ni？a events tended to dominate the changes of SSA and Chl a concentration in the key area between 25°–29°N and 122.5°–130.5°E, driving the variability of squid abundance. However, this influence varied with the intensity of each anomalous climatic event： the weak El Ni？o event occurred, the spawning ground was occupied by waters with enlarged SSA but with extremely low Chl a concentration, leading to low squid recruitment, the CPUE then decreased; the moderate intensity of El Ni？o event resulted in shrunk SSA but with high Chl a concentration on the spawning ground, the squid recruitment and CPUE increased; the moderate intensity of La Ni？a events yielded elevated SSA and high Chl a concentration on the spawning ground, the squid recruitment and CPUE dramatically increased. Our findings suggested that the ENSO events played crucial effects on the incubating and feeding conditions of the winter cohort of T. pacificus during the spawning season and ultimately affected its abundance.