Ocean Ecosystem Indicators of Pacific Salmon Marine Survival in the Northern California Current

Long-term monitoring of ocean conditions and their effect on juvenile Pacific salmon survival off Oregon and Washington.

West Coast

Since 1996, the Northwest Fisheries Science Center has monitored the ocean environment off the Washington and Oregon coasts, its interaction with the California Current, and how ocean conditions affect fisheries, focusing on juvenile salmonids.

Indicators are ranked as good, fair or poor. The summer PDO, winter PDO are ranked good. The sea surface temp is ranked fair while, deep temp and deep salinity was ranked poor, and the northern copepod, biological transition and ickthyoplankton are ranked fair, and Chinook catch is ranked poor. The coho catch is ranked good.

Our ocean indices combine a suite of oceanographic data to capture the changing ecosystem. These indicators characterize ocean conditions experienced by juvenile salmon entering the northern California Current. We rate each indicator in terms of whether the relative impact on the marine survival of juvenile salmon is "good," "poor," or "fair”.

Stoplight Table

We analyze various ocean ecosystem indicators to develop a "stoplight" table that we use to provide outlooks of adult salmon survival. We compare the data from all years sampled to arrive at rank scores for each ocean ecosystem indicator. We then color-code each indicator based on its rank to reflect ocean conditions for salmon growth and survival.

View the stoplight table>

Ocean Conditions Summary

Each year we summarize the ocean conditions used to characterize juvenile salmon marine survival in the Northern California Current.

View this year's summary>

View past annual summaries from 2008 to present>

Newportal Blog

Keep current on local ocean conditions by visiting our blog, where we post bi-monthly contour maps of oceanographic data and cruise reports of what we are seeing in the Northern California Current.

Visit the Newportal Blog>

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Dive Deeper

Get an introduction to our ocean indicators project>

Learn about the oceanography of the California Current Ecosystem study area>

View our methods and background materials>
Learn more about the various ocean indicators used in the Stoplight Table.

Learn about ancillary data and future indicators in development>

Connect With Us

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Staff

Northwest Fisheries Science Center Fish Ecology staff

Kym Jacobson, Research Zoologist, Newport Field Station
Brian Burke, Research Fisheries Biologist, Montlake Laboratory
Jennifer Fisher, Research Fisheries Biologist, Newport Field Station
JoAnne Butzerin, Technical Writer/Editor, Montlake Laboratory
Bill Peterson, Late Biological Oceanographer, Newport Field Station

Cooperative Institute for Marine Ecosystem and Resources Studies (CIMERS) staff

Cheryl Morgan, Senior Faculty Research Assistant II, Oregon State University, Newport, OR
Samantha Zeman, Senior Faculty Research Assistant, Oregon State University, Newport, OR
Anna Bolm, Faculty Research Assistant, Oregon State University, Newport, OR
Elizabeth Daly, Senior Faculty Research Assistant II, Oregon State University, Newport, OR