Gulf of Maine's bottom waters expected to cool this season

Yahoo

6 days ago

May 28—The deepest waters in the Gulf of Maine are expected to cool this spring and summer, which could be good news for certain fish and fishermen, according to a forecast by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
For years, the gulf has been among the fastest warming parts of the ocean in the world, fueled by decades of rising temperatures in the Gulf Stream. The latest seasonal outlook was developed by staffers in NOAA's research and fisheries departments, plus a handful of other units within the agency.
But forecasters expect the deeper areas of the Gulf to be between 0.9 and 1.8 degrees colder than average this season, NOAA said in a written statement Wednesday.
Shifting currents, which can carry cool water from along the Canadian coast, have created relatively cool bottom-water temperatures since late 2023, the agency said.
Vincent Saba, a research fishery biologist at the agency's Northeast Fisheries Science Center, said cooling temperatures from around the Labrador Sea "is significant and could have important effects on local marine ecosystems and fisheries," in a written statement.
Katherine Mills, senior scientist at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, said fishermen may be able to use the latest forecast to anticipate where to find certain species of fish.
"Species in the groundfish complex — like cod, haddock and winter flounder — are more productive when water temperatures are cooler. This information can be used to anticipate where and when certain marine species might be available and help commercial harvesters and supply chain businesses more effectively plan their operations," Mills said in a written statement.
Lobsters are also temperature sensitive. Warming waters along the southern New England coast have helped drive a major decline in the local lobster population "while the Gulf of Maine population has boomed," NOAA said in the announcement.
A longer-term outlook that NOAA completed as a companion to the 2025 forecast suggests that flows of cool water could stave off warming in the gulf's deepest waters for several years, but the agency said additional monitoring would be required to confirm that prediction.
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