Recruitment of fish stocks is a complex process dependant on both spawning stock size and environmental factors. For a number of stocks, environmental factors appear to be contributing to higher recruitment via transport mechanisms and the role of feeding opportunities for early life stages. The potential role of these and other factors are being explored for stocks on Georges Bank where we have seen improved recruitment over the past decade while zooplankton populations of the Northeast Shelf ecosystem have also increased. The indication of important regional and seasonal dynamics means that temporal and spatially-explicit examinations of zooplankton are required to further examine the link between lower-trophic level production and fisheries production.