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Marine ecology

Spring algal bloom and larval fish survival

Nature volume 423, pages 398–399 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

The different factors that influence the prevalent decline in fish stocks are currently subject to urgent and intense scrutiny. Here we combine the use of remote-sensing satellite data with a long-term data set of haddock recruitment off the eastern continental shelf of Nova Scotia, Canada, to show that the survival of the larval fish depends on the timing of the local spring bloom of phytoplankton. This link has been suspected for more than 100 years, but its verification has had to wait for technology with sufficient spatial and temporal resolution.

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Figure 1: Interannual variations in ecosystem properties on the continental shelf to the east of southern Nova Scotia, Canada.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Ocean Sciences Division, Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Box 1006, Dartmouth, B2Y 4A2, Nova Scotia, Canada

    Trevor Platt & Kenneth T. Frank

  2. Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University, Halifax, B3H 4J1, Nova Scotia, Canada

    Csar Fuentes-Yaco

Authors
  1. Trevor Platt
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  2. Csar Fuentes-Yaco
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  3. Kenneth T. Frank
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Trevor Platt.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Platt, T., Fuentes-Yaco, C. & Frank, K. Spring algal bloom and larval fish survival. Nature 423, 398–399 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/423398b

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