“An Era of Surprises”

The average diet of salmon off California in the 1980s was diverse, including anchovy, sardine, krill, and other organisms. Credit: NOAA Fisheries/John Field.

NOAA Fisheries scientist Nate Mantua discusses why he started studying salmon as well as how climate change and anchovies are threatening salmon on the West Coast.

In recent years anchovy have dominated salmon diets, with fishermen finding salmon stomachs almost entirely full of anchovy. Credit: NOAA Fisheries/John Field.

Nate leads a team of salmon ecologists, biologists, freshwater and ocean experts at NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center. These scientists are examining how changing conditions in freshwater, estuary, and ocean habitats affect salmon on the West Coast, sometimes in unexpected ways.

LINK (via NOAA)