"April 9, NMFS issued a press release reporting that biologists studying salmon and other marine life in waters off San Francisco in March found many baitfish, such as sardines and anchovies, that were remarkably thin for their size and appeared undernourished. The malnourished condition of these fish is probably due to the scarcity of food caused by seasonal low ocean productivity and the effects of the current El Niño. Samples of the fish were saved to be analyzed later in the laboratory and compared with samples collected in previous years. The NMFS biologists made their observations during recent biological surveys aboard the NOAA research vessel David Starr Jordan. The first survey (March 10-16) was designed to assess the distribution and ecology of juvenile king salmon within the Gulf of the Farallones. A high-speed rope trawl was used at night to collect the young fish. In addition to capturing salmon, numerous anchovies and sardines were collected incidentally. The reason for the malnourished condition of these small baitfish may be twofold. During the winter months, when the fish were sampled, the ocean's productivity is at its yearly low. And this year, the presence of El Niño conditions has further reduced ocean productivity to the point that many fish appear to be having difficulty finding food. Lack of fish food was demonstrated when fine mesh plankton nets deployed during the survey collected very little plankton. The second survey (March 19-23) was part of an ongoing program to monitor possible impacts of the disposal of dredged materials from the Oakland Estuary Deepening Project on fishes and other important organisms at the San Francisco Deep Ocean Disposal Site, located 50 miles west of San Francisco in waters more than a mile deep. Members of theTiburon Laboratory staff used plankton nets and small research trawls to collect organisms at 21 stations in and around the disposal site. They noted a paucity of organisms throughout the study area and sea temperature substantially warmer than normal (for example, 56o F at 200 ft), with the intrusion of a thick layer of warm saline water throughout the coastal region. Marine ecologists aboard also noted that seabirds and marine mammals were unusually sparse wherever the depth of the water exceeded 200 m. Only one pinniped species was abundant during the cruise (northern fur seal), and there were few sightings of most porpoise species; no whales were observed. Biologists doing the surveys also ascribe the paucity of seabirds and mammals to the effects of El Niño, namely, lack of food near the surface, which can be attributed to a deep thermocline and no upwelling of cool, nutrient-rich water.--Susan.Smith@noaa.gov