Interannual monsoon wind variability as a key driver of East African small pelagic fisheries

Jebri, Fatma ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7048-0068; Jacobs, Zoe L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7348-0699; Raitsos, Dionysios E.; Srokosz, Meric ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7347-7411; Painter, Stuart C.; Kelly, Stephen; Roberts, Michael J.; Scott, Lucy; Taylor, Sarah F. W.; Palmer, Matthew; Kizenga, Hellen; Shaghude, Yohana; Wihsgott, Juliane ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7909-0007; Popova, Ekaterina ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2012-708X. 2020 Interannual monsoon wind variability as a key driver of East African small pelagic fisheries. Scientific Reports, 10 (1), 13247. 10.1038/s41598-020-70275-9

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-70275-9

Abstract/Summary

Small pelagic fisheries provide food security, livelihood support and economic stability for East African coastal communities—a region of least developed countries. Using remotely- sensed and field observations together with modelling, we address the biophysical drivers of this important resource. We show that annual variations of fisheries yield parallel those of chlorophyll-a (an index of phytoplankton biomass). While enhanced phytoplankton biomass during the Northeast monsoon is triggered by wind-driven upwelling, during the Southeast monsoon, it is driven by two current induced mechanisms: coastal “dynamic uplift” upwelling; and westward advection of nutrients. This biological response to the Southeast monsoon is greater than that to the Northeast monsoon. For years unaffected by strong El-Niño/La-Niña events, the Southeast monsoon wind strength over the south tropical Indian Ocean is the main driver of year-to-year variability. This has important implications for the predictability of fisheries yield, its response to climate change, policy and resource management.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1038/s41598-020-70275-9
ISSN:	2045-2322
Date made live:	15 Sep 2020 14:26 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/528487

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

10.1038/s41598-020-70275-9

ISSN:

2045-2322

Date made live:

15 Sep 2020 14:26 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/528487