A-1. Banks, Shelves and Shallow Seas

The specific scientific objectives of the Georges Bank program appear in Table 3; they are developed in greater detail in U.S. GLOBEC Report No. 6 (U.S. GLOBEC 1991b). The target taxa to be studied include the pelagic stages of cod (Gadus morhua) and haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), and the copepods Calanus finmarchicus and Pseudocalanus spp., which are their principal prey. The first measurement programs to address these objectives have begun. A pilot study of stratification variability-Table 3, Objective III-and its effects on larval fish survival was carried out in May 1992. A preliminary report of this study appears in the U.S. GLOBEC NEWS (No. 3, May 1993). More intensive studies of the impact of stratification survival and growth of these larval fish were conducted in 1994, with a full program of broad-scale investigations and process-oriented research planned for 1995. The effects of the exchange and retention of water and organisms on and off of Georges Bank will be examined in 1997. Frontal exchange processes will be the prime focus of field studies in 1999. Details of the overall program schedule are shown in Table 2. Banks, shelves, and shallow seas afford a rich arena for regional intercomparisons. They are among the most studied parts of the world ocean. One candidate for a comparative study might be a collaborative project with Canadian researchers who study the banks off Canadian shores in the NW Atlantic adjacent to Georges Bank. A large and successful Canadian effort, the Ocean Production Enhancement Network (OPEN), directed toward that end has recently concluded. Canada GLOBEC has identified the Scotian Shelf off of eastern Canada as one of its three main field investigations. Comparative endeavors with European researchers may also be fruitful. The Norwegian program, Mare Cognitum, is devoted to examining the productivity of the Norwegian Sea, with a focus on herring and the interactions between herring and zooplankton and other fish stocks. The ICES/GLOBEC International Cod and Climate Change program is coordinating investigations of the effect of climate change on North Atlantic cod stocks, and has identified core study components of 1) cod trophodynamics, and 2) large- and 3) intermediate-scale physical processes as they impact cod stock dynamics.