OVERCOMING BARRIERS TO THE USE OF SATELLITE DATA IN FISHERIES MANAGEMENT

Due to the extensive spatial and temporal coverage of ocean satellite data products, these data have great potential for operational oceanographic applications. Yet these data are underutilized in many operational activities of NOAA, including stock assessments. Here we describe two different efforts underway to increase the transition of oceanographic satellite data into operational usage. The West Coast Node (WCN) of CoastWatch has been collaborating with the Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) to develop an online tool that will make it easier for stock assessment scientists to incorporate environmental satellite data into their annual stock assessments. This specialized webpage serves time-series of remotely sensed products (e.g., chlorophyll and sea-surface temperature data) for fisheries management regions around Alaska. WCN has also been working to increase oceanographic satellite data utilization through the NOAA CoastWatch Ocean Satellite Course that they have been teaching since 2006.