The Northeast River Forecast Center's Decision Support Services for Federal and State Fisheries Activities in the Gulf of Maine Region

The Northeast River Forecast Center (NERFC) for several years has been providing decision support to the Gulf of Maine Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) community for their monitoring and forecasting activities in the basin. Support has been provided in the form of a bi-weekly hydro-meteorological discussion sent by email to the HAB Listserver which addresses recent rainfall departures, current streamflow conditions, and the likelihood of above normal precipitation and river runoff for the next 2 weeks. These outlooks are utilized by modelers at The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and North Carolina State University who run a HAB model for the Gulf of Maine and coordinate cruises during the season to support sampling activities. These outlooks also support NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service and State Departments of Environmental Management who have responsibility for sampling activities and the issuance of closure notifications related to shellfish beds in the region. The NERFC was also engaged in a second activity during the spring of 2015 with the NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Maine Field Station, in Orono, ME. The Maine Field Station conducted an experiment which evaluated the use of NERFC 30 to 90 day Ensemble Streamflow Predictions (ESP) to support Atlantic Salmon stocking activities. NERFC conducted bi-weekly briefings to discuss and explain the forecasts to the fishery managers for the spring 2015 stocking season.

This presentation will provide an overview of our fisheries related decision support activities in our service area.