Influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation on Mediterranean deep-sea shrimp landings

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that the population dynamics of deep-sea organisms are affected by coupling between surface oceanic processes and energy, or trophic resources, reaching the sea floor. I analysed the correlation between the landings of a deep-sea shrimp (Aristeus antennatus) in Catalonia (NW Mediterranean) and the climatic indices of the annual North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and winter NAO between 1971 and 2007. I show that the size of landings is significantly correlated with the NAO and with the winter NAO, with 2 and 3 yr lags in both cases. Considering that around 60% of the landings comprise 2 to 3 yr old females, my results suggest that climatic conditions over the western Mediterranean (especially in winter) influence the year-class strength of this deep-sea shrimp, fished from 600 to 800 m depth.