The Dynamic Role of Pollock ( Pollachius virens ) as a Predator in the Northeast US Continental Shelf Ecosystem: a Multi-decadal Perspective

The Northeast US continental shelf ecosystem has been subject to heavy fishing pressure and other anthropogenic influences that have directly and, through food web interactions, indirectly affected the abundance of fish and invertebrates. The role of pollock (Pollachius virens) as one of the key gro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of Northwest Atlantic fishery science Vol. 38; pp. 53 - 65
Main Authors Tyrrell, MC, Link, JS, Moustahfid, H, Smith, BE
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Halifax Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization, NAFO 2007
Subjects
Anthropogenic factors
Aquatic crustaceans
Catch per unit effort
Continental shelves
Diet
Ecosystems
Environmental changes
Fish
Fishing
Fishing effort
Fishing pressure
Food habits
Food webs
Foods
Invertebrates
Marine
Marine crustaceans
Marine fishes
Marine molluscs
Pollachius virens
Population dynamics
Predators
Prey
United States > US
ANW, Atlantic, George's Bank
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Summary:The Northeast US continental shelf ecosystem has been subject to heavy fishing pressure and other anthropogenic influences that have directly and, through food web interactions, indirectly affected the abundance of fish and invertebrates. The role of pollock (Pollachius virens) as one of the key groundfish predators in this ecosystem has changed accordingly over the last three decades. We utilized a thirty-three year food habits database with over 5 500 pollock stomachs to examine relative removal of commercially valuable fish and invertebrate prey by pollock. Pollock diet composition has substantially shifted through time and appears closely tied to the relative availability of prey. Pollock diet shifted from euphausiids, squid and sandlance early in the time series to decapod shrimp, herrings and hakes in recent years. Both small and large size classes of pollock have shown an increased proportion of fish in the diet through time. Pollock has, at times, exerted notable predatory removals on squid, and to a lesser extent, on herring and mackerel. The implications of pollock consumption on prey population dynamics is discussed in light of the recent trend of its increasing biomass.
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ISSN:0250-6408
1682-9786
1813-1859
DOI:10.2960/J.v38.m605