This collaborative research grant supports the incremental linkage costs of a US team, led by Prof. Peter Woodhead, of the Marine Sciences Research Center, SUNY/Stony Brook, to work in Namibia, to investigate the ecology, physiology and behavior of cape hake, Merluccius capensis, in relation to oxygen depletion. These studies of cape hake, the dominant demersal fish in the Benguela upwelling system, where depletion of oxygen from bottom waters is prevalent, will advance knowledge concerning the responses of fish to hypoxia in the open sea. The collaborating foreign institution is the National Marine Research and Information Center (NATMRIC) of Namibia. Two oceanographers from the Marine Science Research Center at SUNY/Stony Brook, with two graduate students, will travel to Namibia to take part in two cruises with their counterparts in August and October 1995, and again in 1996. This proposal offers very good complementarity of resources between the US and foreign partners, and gives two US graduate students international field research experience. Of the three senior US sc ientists, two are women. Cooperation with the Namibian host institution allows access not otherwise possible for the US investigators. The Namibians are providing the ship time. The Namibian scientists have broad expertise in the fisheries of the Benguela current system, but they have lacked equipment and experience for relating changes in fish abundance and distribution to critical environmental variables. The Stony Brook scientists bring strengths in the latter, including assessment of effects of oxygen depletion on marine communities. The joint research will provide information critical to management and conservation of marine resources.
