The
Environmental Research Division (ERD) is a research
unit of the National Marine Fisheries Service's Southwest Fisheries Science
Center. The group was formed in 1969 to develop data bases and to
conduct research on fishery-related effects of natural environmental variability
over a broad range of scientific, management, and operational concerns of the
government and the fishing industry of the United States. In addition to its
research mission, ERD distributes environmental index products
and time series data bases to cooperating researchers, taking advantage
of its long association with the U.S. Navy's Fleet Numerical Meteorology
and Oceanography Center (FNMOC).