Rescue and Retrieval of Historic Bering Sea Crab

Rescue and Retrieval of Historic Bering Sea Crab Data Russell E. Nelson, Jr. Beverly A. Malley Robert S. Otto NOAA/NMFS/AFSC/RACE Kodiak Laboratory 1

Scientific Rationale • Establishing a time series of information on eastern Bering Sea (EBS) king and Tanner crab is a major responsibility of the NMFS Kodiak Laboratory. • Historic 1966 -1974 EBS crab data includes survey results and fishing data on crab abundance that contains embedded environmental data on bottom temperatures and on-site weather observations. • Currently, a controversy exists on the effects of changing climate on EBS resources, as well as other species in the region. 2

Scientific Rationale (2) • A relational database will be created that combines existing and archived records and integrates this database with Kodiak Laboratory’s internet homepage for dissemination. • This database serves research and modeling efforts concerning population dynamics, fishery management, and ecology. • Embedded environmental data could be used and integrated with other sources to increase our longterm knowledge of the effects of climate change. 3

Specific FY 2007 Tasks • The UN/FAO FSTAT website serves as a practical model for the objectives of this project. • Pre-1966 – Almost entirely on paper media and consists of trawl survey data, tagging records, tag recovery records and biological observations – Annual data sets likely fall in the 2, 000 to 20, 000 range – Blind key verification techniques are requested • 1966 -1974 – Trawl survey data will need to keyed by the contractor. – Annual data sets fall in the 2, 000 to 20, 000 records range. • 1975 -2006 – Data already in ORACLE Database, only needs only to be prepared for the internet. • Data combined with existing in relational database, made available on: – http: //www. afsc. noaa. gov/Kodiak/default. htm 4

Typical pre– 1966 data deck sheet 5

Typical 1966 -74 data deck sheet 6

CDMP Proposal Evaluation Criteria • Proposal supports NOAA’s Ecosystem and Climate Goals • Contribution to Improved Data Access and Rescue: – Transfer of significant historical data from fragile paper media into text files – Creation of a relational database that combines existing and archived records – Integration of this database with the Kodiak Laboratory internet homepage will enable these historical records to be made available to a greater audience. 7