Fishing for Hypoxia: Exploring nearshore oxygen dynamics through partnership with Oregon Dungeness crab fishermen

Hypoxia, or low oxygen episodes are a growing concern for scientists, resource managers, and fishermen alike. On the Oregon coast, this phenomenon was first noticed by crab fishermen in the early 2000’s when their crab pots contained dead crabs. Episodic seasonal hypoxia introduces uncertainty into fisheries management and fishing practices. There is a growing body of research suggesting that coastal hypoxia has been and will continue to intensify with climate change. While the proximate drivers of hypoxia in upwelling systems are well understood, the onset and extent over productive fishing grounds are not. We developed and tested a new dissolved oxygen sensing system for deployment by Dungeness crab fishermen during the 2020 upwelling season. This provided a network of observations to help better understand coastal oxygen dynamics. This new system also allows fishermen to track oxygen over their fishing grounds in real time. In turn, an expanded understanding of oxygen dynamics over fishing grounds allows resource managers to better resolve impacts to marine ecosystems. The availability of real-time spatially distributed observations is also informing the development of statistical models to forecast the onset and progression of hypoxic episodes in season. Establishing tools for fishermen and fisheries managers to adaptively respond to the onset of seasonal hypoxia will be increasingly valuable as hypoxia continues to intensify with climate change.